Darkness Falls
by Sherbet Mayhem
Summary: The tables have turned. The darkness has fallen. A new era has begun. And those few surviving renegades, theeeere's TRUB IN THE SHRUB - HOT! Kai gets raped - she love him long time. 1tym lulzzz oh noez D: Mad bit beast shiz goin downnnnn oyyyye BIOVOLT ho
1. A New Regime

Sherbet Mayhem: HAPPY NEW YEAR! ! ! Hello everybody! I'm back, getting riled up for an all new story for you guys! I can't wait myself, and hopefully you're as excited as I am! It's 23:16 pm and I'm opening the year 2004 with a merry new project! Lol.  
  
I'm pretty sure you lot are expecting the usual long, ridiculously over worded disclaimer from me as usual - HA! No way! I shall break the mould and say . . . ENJOY! Bear in mind I don't know where this is going in your reviews . . . be nice *begs* PLEASE! And bear with it. I'm pretty sure it'll get a whole lot better. I hope so! o_0*  
  
Oh yeah, I don't own Beyblade. That's the one *sobs* so off we go!  
  
Kai: It was still pretty long.  
  
Sherby: Shut up -_-* Oh, just to say, that things in little squiggles like this ~see I'm in little squiggles~ are thoughts or flashes - I'm not saying flash forwards or flash backs 'cause there are gonna be quite a lot and I'm attempting to confuse you. Things in //two slashes// like that are lyrics. Stupid lack of italics on ff.net . . .  
  
**************************************************************************** **************************************************  
  
Chapter One: A New Regime  
  
**************************************************************************** **************************************************  
  
~"Do it! You know it's right."  
  
"No . . . I can't!"  
  
"Just do it. You know it's the only way . . .please. If you do this, things'll work out like we planned. It'll all be over. No more darkness. No more fighting. Death is the answer here. Death will bring life."  
  
"I know, but . . . I can't . . . it's not . . ."  
  
"Come on!"  
  
"No, I . . ."  
  
"Do it. Just get it over with. "  
  
"Please . . . please don't make me . . ."  
  
"REI! KILL ME!"~  
  
**************************************************************************** **************************************************  
  
"Is it safe now?"  
  
A soft, trembling voice cut through the pitch obscurity that shrouded all around, shivering through the bitter atmosphere as faintly as the moon shone through the grey clouds collected above. A night so cold and crisp as this one should merit a clear, definite deep blue sky, but outside the air was misted with heavy fumes, toxic black in shade, thick yet hollow. And with it, the mist carried sounds, echoes of battles storming through the night, the despondency weighted with tormented, desperate cries for release and tempestuous roars - the sounds of the Rage.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
The other voice replied in a whisper, as if to quieten the companion, and the sound of a match striking rough scratched through their ears. A tiny flame was kindled, protected by a fearful hand, and eventually, two blue eyes glimmered in the reflection.  
  
"It sounds so quiet out there. It might be over now."  
  
The owner of the match held up the flame, moving his hand from around it and letting the tiny circles of light radiate a little more, and a young, freckled blond was revealed, with puckish features and a once merry face. He glanced at his companion nervously before moving.  
  
The two had been squatting under a stack of crates for at least an hour now - hiding in one of the boxes that had been turned on its side and had no lid. This was one of the only safe places they knew - a small warehouse in the middle of the city, where little was suspected because supervision was so highly charged. The warehouse had a ground floor and a kind of balcony that acted as a first about thirty metres above ground, but it was generally safer to remain low in these dark days. A thin veneer of powdery dust layered the dark wooden floor; the whole place looked as though it had been coated in one giant spider's web, lilted in a random fashion and splayed over every object available. When the four small windows were blocked, as they usually were, the dust was less noticeable, but now, with the blockages ripped away, the fading light of the moon occasionally gathered enough strength to expose the knitted webs, and they sparkled in the rarity. A cough tickled at Max's throat, but it was impossible for him to give in to it. That might give the game away.  
  
Max moved out from inside the box, his tremulous hands barely able to keep their grip upon the precious match. It was one of the only few left in his set. Glancing about in the thickness, the match lit up little but told Max that the warehouse was empty once more.  
  
"Lindsay, you can come out now."  
  
They had almost been attacked earlier. That explained the window blockages being torn apart so savagely. The revealing moonlight, dying as it was, desperate in its search, made Max uneasy. It showed too much. They could hide in the darkness.  
  
Max turned, and, in the fading glow of his match, watched his companion emerge cautiously from the crate, looking about behind her thick spectacles, her green eyes occasionally glittering when the lacking light reached her eyes. Lindsay was a very new member to the group - shy, and rather hesitant at first, but a survivor none the less. That in itself was enough to impress Max. She pulled herself to her feet, and Max surveyed her quickly.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
The girl nodded, and Max could just make out her brown, extremely curly hair bobbing as she did so. She was taller than he was by a good three inches, with a pleasantly curvy build and a pretty smile. Of course, this was difficult to see now. Hardly anybody smiled in times as these, where the dawn of the morning was merely the start of the preparation to survive the death of the light.  
  
Lindsay brushed herself off, getting particularly annoyed at one spot of dust that would not remove itself from her upper thigh, no matter how hard she brushed. Max sighed, wanting to smile in amusement but not finding the will to do so.  
  
"We need to find the others."  
  
Lindsay looked up from where she was rubbing her leg, surprise written across her face. "You're sure the Rage is ended?"  
  
The Rage. As darkness was born upon the city, the buildings becoming obscure black silhouettes in the purple mist, out they would come, flowing through the city as water, washing up every human they could find and tearing them away with spiteful claws. Most had the sense to hide - safely, indoors, hoping desperately that they would not be found, that they could just cling on until dawn . . . just a couple more hours . . .  
  
At the end of the day, when the glow of the sun was finally put out, when the safe brightness of day was chained away, when the darkness fell, they were released. Their shadows stalked the streets, flashing teeth and claws and squeezing the heart with fear. The beasts came to life. And nowhere was safe.  
  
Max pondered for a moment, stopping and looking down at his hands.  
  
~"How did all of this happen?"~  
  
He couldn't answer himself - no one could answer that question. Everything had gone berserk. The electricity cut seemed to have sparked the whole thing off - power across the main countries and suppliers in the world had gone out about three months ago, dropping the entire population into pandemonium. People had simply begun to run - to where they did not know. Scientists and doctors, baffled by this inexplicable black out, had frantically tried to fix the problem before sundown.  
  
And then darkness had fallen . . .  
  
That first night . . . that first Rage . . .  
  
Max shook his head, the tears suddenly collected in his blue eyes being shaken away by sheer will power. He glanced up into the green eyes of Lindsay.  
  
"Come on, Max. If we're going, we should go while it's still quiet."  
  
He nodded in agreement, his stomach suddenly panging for that rare necessity; food. Only scraps were available for humans now, usually hard fought for or hard searched for. Everything was so different - every move a fight, a grasp at survival.  
  
Max turned, and was about to lead the way out of the warehouse when he was interrupted by an unexpected smash. He glanced up, his eyes round in anticipation and fear, as thousands of shards, both large and small, clattered to the floor as an icy waterfall, glittering in the moon's pale glow and throwing up a pile of dust in its wake. He turned back to Lindsay before even looking back up at the window; that broken barrier of jagged tendrils no longer keeping out what they were desperate to hide from.  
  
"Lindsay, get back in the crate!"  
  
He yelled it almost too late, and just as the two of them dove into their shelter there was another terrible smashing sound, the tingles of the glass splintering across the wooden floor chilling Max's spine as he closed his eyes in fear. Across from him, shivering, Lindsay attempted to quieten her shaking breaths, terrified of giving their haven away. All that stood between them and an almost certain death was a flimsy shield of crate.  
  
Their feet could be heard, shifting along the floor, claws grating and scratching the cold floor disturbingly. Their breaths, cold and harsh and raspy, drove through the chilled air, and Max could imagine the frost rings gathering before their leathery nostrils. He knew what awaited them. It was simply a matter of time.  
  
More and more footsteps. Max held his breath tentatively, listening with a weary sort of fear to his heart attempting to escape his chest, banging relentlessly upon his rib cage as the horrible sound of the footsteps grew ever closer. His throat was dry. He couldn't swallow. Soundless movements like blinking seemed off limits, just in case a single movement could be heard, sensed somehow by what lurked beyond the wall of wood protecting them. He glanced over at Lindsay, unable to see her in the dark, yet feeling oddly comforted knowing there was someone else with him. More bangs and crashes from outside told him that the Rage was not over yet. And they were caught right in the middle of it.  
  
Lindsay looked towards the exit of their box. It was usually shrouded by a piece of black material, but now with a sinking heart she realised that it was gone. Now they were not only open to the threat stalking only metres away - but they were cornered. And the two eyes peering in at her merely re- emphasized what she had been thinking.  
  
~"I'm going to die."~  
  
The black eyes, somehow alight in the darkness of the room, narrowed, the pupils becoming single slits and the whole iris clouding into an indistinguishable pitch. Lindsay held back a scream, biting her tongue as hard as she could, drawing blood but knowing that if she screamed the game was up. She merely held her breath, her green eyes, only slightly visible in the enclosing darkness of the room, fixed upon those black ones watching she and Max hungrily.  
  
She heard a slight gasp from Max's side of the crate, and knew that he had seen their watcher. He hadn't meant to gasp, but sometimes the human will is not strong enough to conquer the human instinct. She took a quick glance back out, noticing with a falling feeling that the eyes had lit some more. They moved closer, and Lindsay heard that sound that she had dreaded for so long - the breathing, so close, right in front of her, echoing within her mind, the air breezing about her face as the creature moved in for the kill. She shut her eyes. She could not find it within herself to watch.  
  
The crate suddenly shook as the beast's head hit the ceiling. Max snapped open his own eyes in disbelief as the glowing eyes shrank from view, a furious cry emitting from its fanged jaws. He watched, shaking, as it completely withdrew from their haven, and it became safe once more. Human voices could be heard.  
  
Max scrambled from his cross-legged position, adrenaline pumping furiously throughout his body, and poked his head out. He could merely see silhouettes, black, evanescent glimpses, huge shapes, moving and growling, and then smaller shapes, moving more quickly, flitting, inky stains against the inkier backdrop.  
  
Max thought quickly. He knew that those who had come would be better advantaged in the light. Without thinking about how dangerous this was, he threw himself to his feet and ran the short distance that most who inhabited the warehouse knew by memory to the stairs. He grabbed the banister shakily, knowing that each step he took may be his last, and launched himself up the flight of about twenty-one metal, rickety steps. They'd all done this in the dark many times. It was essential to be able to move without seeing. Practise had made perfect.  
  
He reached the balcony quickly, his sure footsteps making a quick job of the staircase. His feet clanked on the floor as he pounded along the landing, his left hand glued to the metal banister as he flew towards his destination. All below him were the cruel sounds of fighting. The occasional metal clinging, angry roars and cries, and what he hated most - human emotions. All of them familiar. Each of them sharp as daggers, forcing him to run faster and faster as more desperation channelled through his veins.  
  
He finally got there. He rounded a corner and turned into a small room, invisible to those watching from below. It was tiny, and, set into the back of the room, was a flame. A huge torch, set in its holster in the wall, just small enough for Max to get his hands around, with a massive flame burning brightly at the top. He squinted for a moment, his eyes not accustomed to the light, the warmth a refreshing treat, and then he fastened his hands about the metal holder, making sure his grip was tight. He couldn't afford to drop this flame. He gazed at it; secure in his grasp, before turning and exiting the tiny, well-hidden room.  
  
He turned onto the long balcony, which stretched the full length and width of the warehouse, hugging the walls, and he ran, knowing what to do. Briefly he wondered if Lindsay was all right, feeling a little guilty for leaving her. But he knew there were those who would protect her now. He could trust them. He had to.  
  
He reached the first point, and gingerly lifted the flame into the air, its kindle surrounded by wavering circles, made up of thousands of delicate, intricate lines of yellow and red, sparkling, the only real light source in the blackness of the shelter. The moon did not count. The moon was so weak now, penetrated by dozens of thick clouds and smog that the light from the moon was no more than its own shadow. A shadow of a shadow. Max tilted the torch, and lit the first lamp. It hung from the wall in a metal chamber, and he could hear people below praising him and yelling in gratitude as now they could see their adversaries. With a determined smile, Max moved to the next lamp. All had small compartments of gas beneath them, and so could burn for hours if necessary. Hopefully that wasn't the case here. Max longed for the dawn more than ever, and as he ran, he kept glancing out at the jet sky, hoping to see just some sign of a more natural light. That was their biggest advantage. Their enemy feared the sun.  
  
He finally reached the last lamp and lit it proudly, and, glancing back around the room, was pleased to find that the area was much more lit up now. He could see his allies down below, but his heart sank once again when he saw what they were up against.  
  
Six. Six beasts, all huge, manufactured bit-beasts, inexplicable creatures, wild and savage, with a fierce blood lust glimmering in their eyes, their dark, macabre colours towering over the rags that his friends were tattered in. They were littered about the place, and now that Max could see where the cries were coming from, he was even more disturbed. Somehow, not knowing had been just a little more safe. Now he could see, and he found he didn't want to.  
  
**************************************************************************** **************************************************  
  
Lindsay watched as the room lit up gradually. She could just about see the flitting form of Max as he darted along the top balcony, and she smiled. She wished she could think so quickly, but had decided it was safer inside the crate. She was no warrior. Not like the others. She had to stay.  
  
She could see everything that was happening. Watching was almost as bad as taking part. Familiar faces flickered in and out of the beasts, determination written across their faces as they fought. She could see their weapons now, not the typical weapons of twentieth century war that she had been used to seeing on the television. They had been taken - all used in those first couple of days of darkness. No electricity meant that no more weapons could be mass-produced. There were no batteries. There were no plugs. People had been forced to turn to other measures.  
  
A spear flew past Lindsay's face, and she scurried a little further back into the crate. She hated this. Being new to the group, she lacked the training the other members had. She couldn't fight like they could. She would only hinder them if she tried.  
  
She watched as two people darted past the crate, and now she couldn't resist poking her head out to see what was going on. Was her side winning?  
  
Before she could get her head out, the crate shook tremendously, and she screamed, not being able to hold it in this time, as the crate skidded across the floor, propelled by some massive external force. She splayed her hands, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing against the walls of the crate. The movement decreased, and she opened her green eyes again, only to widen them in terror as a massive bit beast crashed violently towards the crate, sending pieces of wood splintering as its tail slammed into another wooden box nearby. Her hands rose up and she covered her head, and somehow managed to dive a little further away before the beast landed upon her own shelter.  
  
"Help!"  
  
She heard herself crying out in terror, though she didn't understand how. Nothing made sense in that split second, when she fully expected to be crushed by the beast - but wasn't.  
  
~"What? How?"~  
  
She looked up, trembling beyond belief, at the two figures before her. Glimpses of their legs could be seen through their tattered clothing, the occasional scratches and tiny trickles of blood marring the pale skin. Two spears had been rammed vertically into the hide of the beast, its black fur coated with flecks of scarlet drippings. It had fallen into the spears, which were being held fast by their owners. Lindsay stumbled to her feet, afraid that her haven had been shattered and scattered, but reassured that someone knew she was there and had helped her. Part of her still didn't believe that she was alive. She watched her two rescuers as they stepped aside, letting go their spears and allowing the beast, a huge hairy black mess, to fall lifeless to the ground with a titanic thud. The dust rose in massive, thick clouds and for a moment, Lindsay covered her face, not allowing the stale scent of the web to enter her body. She removed her hand as the dust cleared, still aware of the vicious fighting all around her, and looked upon the faces of her rescuers.  
  
The one on the right smiled. She tended to like him better. He moved towards her as the other, the stronger boy, turned away to return to the fighting. Beasts flew about them wildly, and Lindsay looked at the boy with the black hair.  
  
"Aren't you fighting?"  
  
He nodded. "Yeah. But I have to make sure you're out of the way first, Linz."  
  
Lindsay smiled wonkily. She didn't know this lad well, but she got on with him when she saw him. He was tall, and looked striking at the moment because of the huge rip in his red, black and white yin-yang bandanna, allowing his obsidian blue bangs to fall about his bright amber eyes. He had a bit of a bloodied nose and his white shirt, ripped open from the centre and hanging loosely about his body, revealed a few gashes upon his toned upper chest. His long legs were clothed in blue trousers that had been ripped to shreds. Still, he didn't seem too bothered by it, and he took her by the shoulders, walking her, in the dim light, to the stairs, grabbing another spear from the hooks on the wall.  
  
"Go up there. Stay up there. Don't come down until it's over."  
  
Lindsay nodded, her heart still pounding obscurely. She started to make her way awkwardly up the stairs - she didn't know them as well as the others did, and they were rather rickety. Half way up, she turned, and found that the boy was watching her to make sure she got up there safely.  
  
"Um . . . what's your name again? Rei?"  
  
The lad nodded. "Yup."  
  
"Thanks, Rei."  
  
Rei laughed, and to Lindsay, it seemed a little hysterical. Possibly because he was still in the middle of battle; she didn't know. "Okay, Lindsay."  
  
"Be careful."  
  
"Will do."  
  
Rei turned at the same time as she did, and as she made her way up the stairs, he lifted his spear, resting it upon his shoulders with skill and moving towards the other boy who had saved Lindsay. He was deeply involved in what he was doing - as a warrior should be. His face, covered at the moment in dirt mixed with a few flicks of crimson, was set in a growl as he swiped his body out of the way of the claws of another creature by ramming his spear into the ground and swinging around it. Rei watched his friend as he spun about full circle and rammed his boot into the creature's face as he returned, crying out fervently as he did so. It backed off, growling, a deep cut above its left eye. This beast was more threatening than the others - no fur, but scales, and not black but red. Deep scarlet, the occasional tint of blue tingeing its scales. Its eyes were bright blue, sparking vibrantly, reflecting the flames from above in their depth. It was a good ten feet high, maybe more; it was impossible to tell in the weak light. Its head stretched up on its long, thin neck, and its arms were long and clawing, like tree branches reaching out into the night - black silhouettes beyond the fields. Its legs were long too, stout, like pillars, and the whole creature itself, when it rose up to its full height, was terrifying. It could only be described as a dragon. Two huge wings, oddly thin and wiry, sprouted from its back and it stretched them to their full arch, creating a shadow almost as terrifying as the real beast.  
  
Rei watched as his friend landed from the kick and snatched his spear from the floor. He raised it high with his well defined arms and, with another cry, hurled the spear forward, hitting the mark and slashing it straight into the beast's chest. It stumbled backwards for a second; roaring and writhing in pain, each time a foot connecting with the floor the whole warehouse seeming to shake. The boy drew out a small knife from within his tattered clothing. He was generally odd looking - black combat trousers, ripped at the knees, no shoes, and a black shirt which had also been ripped open viciously to expose both old scars and fresh wounds upon his toned chest. Striking, shrewd brown eyes lit up his otherwise dark yet pale face, the frame mostly shadowed by obscure bangs of cloudy grey hair hanging over his features. The occasional flash of a silver earring glittered in his left ear, and the remains of some sort of scarf hung limply around his neck, its ragged shreds whipping about the boy as he moved so easily about the warehouse.  
  
The boy watched as the beast stumbled backwards, a slight grin on his face. He hated those dragon creatures. Stubborn things. It fell with one final roar, its body crashing into the dust and laying still, its life leaking out in some strange sort of satisfaction. The lad turned, a tiny path of blood carving its way through the centre of his eyes and down his nose, sloping off and tracing down his right cheek, mixing with some blood from another gash and forming little runlets of bright red against the dirty background. He grinned at Rei, who nodded back, and turned.  
  
He was just in time to see another of the dragons, already in flight and swooping as a bat across the gloom of the warehouse, stretch its claws and drop down at a sickening pace, wrapping its sharp talons about another member of the group and lifting him into the air mercilessly, squeezing its claws and so wrenching the air out of the boy. He managed a slight yell but then fell to digging his own nails into the giant feet of the creature.  
  
Rei yelled out quickly as the serpent passed over his head, knowing that it was essential to take down the creature before it harmed the boy. There was already too few of them by now. They couldn't allow their number to drop. Besides . . .  
  
"Kai! Kai look! It's got Tyson!"  
  
He called out at the top of his voice whilst taking aim with his spear. Allowing himself a quick look back, his friend, Kai, the boy with the grey hair and the dark eyes, had already found himself another spear and was yelling orders to other members of the team. In that moment, Rei was glad that someone as reliable and quick thinking as Kai Hiwatari was in charge of this operation. His deep, powerful voice demanded respect and quick attention as it resounded towards the other end of the warehouse.  
  
"Arrows! Where are you? Get up here!"  
  
He called his orders deftly, and immediately two or three arrows shot through the air towards the creature. They pierced its hide, but were not nearly enough to take the vile thing down. It merely carried on flying, still squeezing the unfortunate boy in its grasp. Tiny droplets of blood could be seen cascading from the dragon's grasp, and Kai, leaping onto the stairs, noticed this with a heavy heart.  
  
~"Tyson . . ."~  
  
He darted up the stairs with a speed and urgency he rarely used, barging past a young girl without a single apology when he pushed her into the banister.  
  
"More arrows!" he yelled desperately, waving a hand, keeping his deep brown eyes on the creature and dragging his feet onwards. He was surprised to see a spear ram itself into the side of the animal, but he knew that it was still not enough. These things had to be hit in the right place. He was closer now - he could see the paling face of his companion as the creature still tightened its grip, forcing every inch of life out of him. It flew along steadily, about two metres below the first floor of the warehouse.  
  
"Someone get below it!" he yelled as he pulled something off the wall briskly, "Follow it! Get ready!"  
  
He shook his pale hair out of his dramatically contrasting eyes, and listened for a second to the sound of his own footsteps, light as they were, padding along the metal floor. Glancing down, he saw that Rei and a few others had gathered below. He could still see the archers, a fiery redhead and a female brunette, volleying the creature with all their worth. There was only one other beast alive in the warehouse now, and some others were already upon it. He noted with a smile that Max was one of these. Max was becoming a fine warrior.  
  
He tightened his grip on the glinting sword that he had pulled from its sheath on the wall. Weapons were littered all about this warehouse; all hooked up to the walls, available with no inconvenience, just how he liked it. His russet glare still didn't move from the creature, and he could see his team following it below, like its alter ego, its constant companion, never faltering, never flinching, never relenting.  
  
He ran. His feet made so little noise on the flooring that the creature never heard him coming, and he gained on it very quickly. He was trained to do things like this. It didn't frighten him. Not much did. His nose wrinkling in a scowl, Kai grabbed the banister with his left hand and propelled himself into the air, flying over the rail and right off the first floor level, dropping through the air like a silver bullet.  
  
Kai watched as the dragon - and his friend - flew closer rapidly, and he tightened his grip further on the large silver sword he wielded. It was actually his favourite - a beautiful gold handle, engraved with the head of an eagle, and the blade itself, polished silver, sharp, splitting, and lethal. His hair blew out of his eyes as he dropped, and then, when the right moment came, he lashed out with the sword, his own body spinning to get the right force behind the blade strike.  
  
It connected, and a gusset of blood vomited from the creature's foot. The leathery skin split cruelly, and the brute gave out a cry of agony, releasing its grasp on the almost unconscious young boy and letting him go. He fell through the air - as did Kai - spiralling towards the ground at a dizzying rate.  
  
Kai didn't bother shutting his eyes. He trusted his team well enough to know that this would hurt - but not too much. He merely watched as the beast grew smaller and smaller - and then he felt the thud of collision with his trusty teammates. They hit the floor with the force of their Captain and his head walloped against the wood harder than he would have liked. He rolled over a few times and then lay still for a moment, getting his breath back. He heard the clink of his sword as it whammed into the floor, and pushed himself up on his arms.  
  
"You okay, Kai?" came a voice, and he looked up to see Lee, another old friend of his, grinning at him as he prepared a spear to lob at the hovering, wailing monster. Blood rained down amongst them, and the majority were now covered in a mix of their own blood and that of the dragon. Kai nodded, allowing his bangs to once more fall into his eyes, and then forcing himself to his feet. Looking up he saw that the torrent of arrows had not given up yet, and were still piercing the creature from all over relentlessly.  
  
"Tala, keep on it!" Kai yelled to the redheaded archer as he moved towards where Max and two others were taking down the other creature. "It's a sure win for us!"  
  
He was right. The warehouse was decorated with the dead bodies of four beasts, and as Kai walked away, he heard the pleasant thud of another one literally biting the dust.  
  
~"That makes five . . ."~  
  
It was rare for the humans to win so easily, with so few casualties. Against six manufactured bit-beasts? Certainly, they had been the weaker of the bit-beasts, but Kai had been expecting more of his team to have been ripped apart. They'd suffered so little . . .  
  
"Crap - Tyson!"  
  
He turned again, back towards where the flying beast had finally succumbed to the volley of sharp, glittering arrows, and moved quickly to where his friend had fallen. Rei and two other girls had caught him successfully, and were silently examining three nasty looking gashes stretching across his ribs. The boy, Tyson, was only young - fourteen years of age - but was an experienced fighter and a good friend of Kai's. He had a bubbly, round face and was one of those admirable people who never gave up smiling.  
  
Kai knelt down beside Rei. "Tyson, can you hear me?"  
  
Tyson, his head cradled by one of the other girls of the group, nodded, his dark blue fringe flopping into his eyes weakly.  
  
"Yeah . . ." he answered with a smile. "Just give me a minute to . . .to rest my head . . ."  
  
Rei smiled, a little uneasy about those gashes but knowing there were more important things to do right now. He glanced over at his Captain before standing and moving away, across this blood soaked battle scene, over to where Max threw the final spear and brought the last plague to its knees.  
  
"Good job, everyone, but we need to get this place sorted quickly! They can still come back before the dawn!"  
  
He stopped right in the middle of the two archers. One of them, Tala, he knew very well. They had been friends back in the days of simple Beyblading. Now, in these times of manufactured bit-beasts, things were no longer just a game. In Beyblading, a bit-beast had purely been a tool, a sidekick to help win a battle. They had been called out only in essence - they couldn't simply emerge of their own will and they couldn't separate themselves from the bit - the chamber in which they were contained. Things were different now. The beasts didn't need to emerge. They controlled themselves.  
  
Two or three months after the Blade-Breakers had won the World Championships in Moscow, things had started to lose control. Boris Balkov - a Russian masochist and scientific genius - had begun to develop his own 'cyber beasts', as he called them - beasts that no longer needed to be released by a human, nor had to remain a part of the beyblade. And at first he had remained in control - monitoring every move, watching each and every step of progress made - until he finally created a beast that could survive on its own, without the bit, without the master. So Boris continued creating more and more of these cyber beasts, until he literally had a whole throng of them, all caged up in a laboratory in the capital of Russia.  
  
Then had come the black out.  
  
No longer confined in their electrically guarded cell, the beasts had escaped from their lodging in Moscow, and moved into the wild. No sight had been seen of them until that first night.  
  
No one liked to think about that first night.  
  
The months had passed by slowly - too slowly for Rei's liking. Survival had become some sort of twisted competition - it was as though now it were the bit beasts playing with the humans. The tables had been turned - turned with a vicious intent, and a malicious outcome.  
  
Mass execution.  
  
Rei didn't even know what had happened to his friends, his family. They had just gone. He knew that the beasts had taken them - whether it was for food or for some sort of twisted pleasure, they had been taken. These monsters were not merely animals. They could think. They knew what they were doing. Their wildness was not amoral. It was immoral. The creatures were wicked and they knew it. They were not killing for survival, or for safety. They were killing because they could. And that was what made Rei hate these beings even more.  
  
Of course, there were still good beasts, to speak in simple terms. The beasts of the bladers, for example, had remained true to their masters. And they could even still be drawn upon, to fight and to help. But it had been stated and agreed with that the original bit beasts should only be used in occasions where no other option was available - as a last ditch resort. Original bit beasts could still be destroyed, and such a massive source of power could not be thrown away so lightly.  
  
Rei glanced at Tala and smiled. Tala, tall and wiry, with flaming red hair and piercing, unnerving ice eyes, was the most experienced archer on the team, and was a great ally. His companion was a young, pretty girl named Sara - a little ditzy but a good archer none the less. She had only been part of the team for a month or so, and Tala had taken her under his wing upon seeing that she had the potential to be a great archer. They had to train each other up to survive. They had to be able to rely on each other as much as Kai had relied on his team to catch him when he had leaped over the balcony rail.  
  
Upon seeing Sara, Rei immediately looked for her curvy companion, Jenny. The two were inseparable, and Jenny was the odd sort of person who had been naturally good at thinking up strategies and new fighting plans. She was not outstanding in the fighting area, but could hold her own given a spear or a sword. She got on particularly well with Kai, and the two often spent hours together pouring over maps of the city, marking out safe spots and routes to get there if necessary.  
  
"Where's Jen, Sara?"  
  
Sara lowered her bow, placing it back on the strap on her back where it belonged, and then turned away, her dark brown hair glistening in the fire light. She was very tanned, almost olive-skinned, and just a little shorter than Rei (and a lot shorter than Tala). Rei looked at Tala questioningly, and Tala merely made a painful face. The penny dropped a little too harshly for Rei, and he sighed.  
  
"Don't tell me they got her. Don't."  
  
Sara still didn't turn around, and Rei closed his eyes, shaking his head, annoyed and upset. He'd had no idea. He hadn't been particularly close to the girl, but he always got so annoyed when they lost a member of the team. They needed all the support they could get.  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Just outside," answered Tala in his strong accent, his deep voice still steady, "When we were coming back to help. We heard the Rage coming in here, and so we all rushed in to aid. I guess Jen just got caught up in the fighting outside."  
  
Rei exhaled sharply, wrinkling his nose to show his emotions, and ran a hand through his hair. He then turned briskly, moving back towards his Captain, who was helping Tyson to his feet. The lad seemed to know what was going on, and just looked a little pale now. His wounds needed bandaging, but that was about all. He was lucky to have escaped so easily.  
  
"Kai," snapped Rei as he approached his leader, who was currently brushing the dust off his trousers, "Jenny's dead."  
  
Kai stopped brushing and looked up. "You serious?"  
  
Rei nodded, looking a little sadder now. "Just outside, apparently."  
  
Kai's face paled, and he felt his stomach tingeing. He and Jenny had been close friends. He'd only known her for what? Two months? Maybe not even that. How was it fair that people who were so close could just be ripped apart in a matter of minutes? Now he'd lost contact with another over this black ocean; how many more would he have to let go? There was too much noise in his ears, and suddenly he felt like he was in an old photograph, back from the start. There was no future - only a repeat of the past. No tomorrow - only a re-run of yesterday.  
  
He sighed, looking down at the ground for a moment, thinking about too many things.  
  
"Let's make sure she's the last, Kai," said Rei quietly, making sure that no one else was within hearing distance, "Let's lose no more to this new regime."  
  
Kai nodded, although he looked very sceptical, and Rei agreed. There was no chance of that. There were no happy endings here. They'd all just keep fighting till they died, keep fighting till they were singled out, until there was no one else to rely on. Looking at Kai, he could tell his Captain felt the same. Hopeless. This was a pointless fight.  
  
"You won't give up, right Kai?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You promise?"  
  
There was a short silence, interrupted by the nearby sounds of people clearing the place up by the firelight. Windows were quickly being boarded with the broken crate splinters that matted the floor. The bodies of the beasts could be used later, either for fuel or for food. They would simply be salted for preservation and kept in a clean place.  
  
Kai looked up with half a smile. "Sure. As long as you don't either."  
  
"Like I would."  
  
Rei walked away with a grin and started to help with the clear up. Kai singled out Sara with his sharp eyes, and decided it was best to let her alone for a while. She was sitting on the bottom stair of the flight, turning an arrow over and over in her hands and saying something to herself.  
  
"Kai?"  
  
Kai blinked, snapped out of his reverie, and turned to see a young, curly haired girl smiling up at him nervously. He was the tallest member there, and so everyone looked up to him, but he didn't like people to feel nervous. She obviously was.  
  
"Yeah?" he uttered, barely bothering to answer. The girl looked a little uncertain, her green eyes flickering behind her oval spectacles.  
  
"Just to say thanks. For saving me earlier. You and Rei - you guys did a great job."  
  
Kai watched her for a second, attempting to remember what he had done.  
  
"Uh-huh. Is it Lindsay?"  
  
"It . . . it is."  
  
"You need to learn to fight, Lindsay."  
  
Lindsay's face paled drastically. She looked very embarrassed. "Oh . . . I know. It's just that---"  
  
"No excuses. Meet me outside at twelve noon. Bring a spear."  
  
Lindsay frowned. She hated this. This stupid, hopeless situation that they were stuck in. They needed help. And she knew that she wasn't the only one thinking it. Only she couldn't think of a way out. Fervently hoping that someone else would think of something, Lindsay glanced out of the window, watching the blue-grey clouds that were covering the moon's radiance and sighing desperately. How she longed for sunlight.  
  
How she longed for the dawn.  
  
//So you think that I could ride this wave all the way through?  
  
So you think that I could just stand here with nothing to hold on to?  
  
I can feel it, it's breaking, it's coming down,  
  
It's crashing down from up high,  
  
Can't see it, it's too big, too fast . . . //  
  
**************************************************************************** **************************************************  
  
Sherby: ;_; *sobs* Not liking at all. Not at all. Initial idea not coming out well. Hmm . . . well, it's up to you guys. It's your place to tell me whether I should carry this on. I shouldn't have opened with a filling in chapter like that. Oh well. I'm not gonna get all upset about it like I did War 5, cause that was just pointless. Just tell me how you feel (please don't compare it to War, I've already done that and it's already depressing me . . .) and tell me whether I should continue. I'm really feeling not good over this. I suppose the next chapter would be more exciting. I'm planning big battles etc - and I've already kind of got an ending planned . . . just don't know what's going in between. Lol. Well, not lol. More like hmm. I think if you let me get going on this, it'll get better. Be honest with me and I'll not get offended if you say this is crap - coz if you ask me it's---  
  
Kai: Shut up, you always do this!  
  
Sherby: Can't help it! I'm a bit depressed coz I already killed myself off, too! Lol.  
  
Kai: Just tell her she's good.  
  
Sherby: No, be honest.  
  
Kai: She's delirious. It's 03:03 am. She isn't thinking straight. She wants praise.  
  
Sherby: *tears* Shhhh! I want honesty! I wanna write better! I wanna make a story that's just as good as War if not better but that isn't a complete rip off!  
  
Kai: I think you wanna sleep.  
  
Sherby: Yes. *climbs into bed and sleeps wearily*  
  
Kai: *whispers* Well, read and review, people. And be nice! She's trying, she really is! Poor Jen *points and laughs* Oh, if only we were all cool like me. Oh, just so you know, Jen says the lyrics were from "The Endings" by Blindside. She likes them a lot. Now do like she says and review - and BE HONEST! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 


	2. Haven Shattered

Sherbet Mayhem: Well hey and howdy my fabulous little readers! It is I - the bringer of torture to Kai and company and do-er of evil deeds! The one, the only--- I need a hobby.  
  
Kai: Yup.  
  
Anyways . . . on with the disclaimery thingy. I own nothing. You stole it all. YOU! I know you're reading. Special, extra special Thankies to Emerald Skies, who hopefully will be showing her face not too soon (you know what I mean, get yourself down here!) and also a HUGE 'I couldn't do this without you' thanks to Oil Pastel, the crazy ski mask wearing cheesecake who has helped me tremendously on this story and STILL insists that she doesn't take any of the credit. Just to tell you now that she came up with most of the plot for this thing, so any admirable plot lines are hers. You wanna hear more of her? Hey, check her stories out. And check out our *cough unfinished cough* joint fics! Trust me, we're a good team (well, trust whoever it was who reviewed and said that!) Hee, hee!  
  
On with the show then! Read and REVIEW! Make my day! The time is: 20.04  
  
Those who asked for a quick synopsis of the first chapter, as they didn't understand, check the end of this chapter. I don't want to bore people with a long disclaimer up at the beginning!  
  
Enjoy!  
  
**************************************************************************** ************  
  
Chapter Two: Haven Shattered  
  
Lindsay threw up her arms and bit back a scream. She really wasn't enjoying herself. The long brown pole connected sharply with her right arm and she winced, a tiny flame of pain writhing through her skin. She shut her eyes for a second and then opened them again, lowering her arms and gazing back at her assailant.  
  
Kai Hiwatari stood directly in front of her - about two metres away, his strong arms, pale and glinting with silvery beads of sweat in the sunlight, tensed and ready to spring into action once more. His knuckles were red with the pressure he was putting upon his hands as he gripped the four foot long pole, dark, almost mahogany wood, unvarnished and splintering here and there. Lindsay swore she had at least ten splinters from this.  
  
As she lowered her arms, her own face slightly flushed and her green eyes glowing in the brightness of the golden orb above, Lindsay took a glimpse at her watch. She had still managed to keep a hold of that, through all of the battles and such. The time was a quarter past three in the afternoon. She and Kai had been training for just over three long hours.  
  
~"It feels like three long days . . ."~ Lindsay thought with a wrinkle of her small, slightly freckled nose. She pushed her glasses up it, as they were slipping down, and watched Kai lower the pole.  
  
"Better. But it's still not enough."  
  
She's smiled at the word 'better', but the latter comment made Lindsay sigh again. Her eyes travelled up the slim form of her trainer, his shirt still hanging open from his escapades in earlier hours, some bruising beginning to form along his side where he had slammed into his teammates after leaping heroically into a thirty-metre drop. The purple marks swelled along the skin, broken occasionally by random slits and tiny gashes, dark brown and black, that had infiltrated his body. Oddly enough, they didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. His black shirt simply hung about the un- bandaged wounds, and Lindsay saw a quick opportunity for a diversion.  
  
"Um . . . Kai, don't you think you should check those bruises out? They look pretty sore. Maybe you should . . ."  
  
"I'm fine," he snapped, his mouth barely moving but his icy gaze fixing straight upon her own. "Let's continue."  
  
Lindsay smirked. "You're fine? What if I . . ."  
  
Without warning, she darted forwards, and swung her long, rickety pole at her adversary with a force she hadn't used yet. She aimed directly for Kai's wounds, knowing that this was probably the only way she would get out of another six hours of relentless, harsh training. She didn't want to be stuck out here until nighttime!  
  
She swung the pole horizontally, with all her might, and closed her eyes, not particularly wanting to watch it collide. It swept through the air and spliced right into its mark, and she opened her eyes again, grinning animalistically.  
  
"Ha! Got you---what?!?"  
  
Lindsay let out an exclamation of incredulity. Kai had simply blocked her blow with his own pole. Her green pupils moved slowly up the tense, taut muscles of his slender arms, gripped ever so tightly about his weapon, and then suddenly, before she even knew what to expect, she felt a sharp blow in her right side. It sent her flying and she skidded onto the gravely floor with a grimace. They were in the remnants of a parking lot - it was now merely a huge expanse of grey gravel, with tiny pieces of moss and grass splitting through the occasional crack in the floor. There was no fencing, no reminder that this had once been a public place. The people were gone. Now only this training ground remained, about a minute's walk from the warehouse.  
  
Lindsay stayed down for a second, wondering if anything was broken. Her side hurt very badly indeed; throbbed with a flare she had never met. She breathed in and it decreased a little, and she struggled into a sitting position.  
  
"Kai? What was that?"  
  
She looked up at a voice, a familiar one, and saw that Tyson and Rei had exited the huge warehouse and were walking their way. The warehouse, from the outside, was a ruin. A huge, empty shell of life and thriving business that it had once been, it was haunted by shadows and blackening brick red, its once vibrant eyes now bordered shut with flimsy pieces of scavenged material. The sun shone down on it, but still the dying building could not come to life. No light would breathe air into its lungs. It would simply remain, dormant as the sleeping rocks and lifeless as the bones of the lost.  
  
Kai turned, a look of mild surprise written across his features. "What?" he asked, running a hand through his hair, which was sticking to his forehead in the heat. Lindsay noticed the gash that hadn't even scabbed over yet, a tear jutting across Kai's forehead that was still bleeding. She didn't know if it had re-opened with the exercise, but suddenly she felt a little guilty for trying to hurt Kai where he was already injured.  
  
Rei waited for a hobbling Tyson to catch up, and Lindsay got to her feet a little unsteadily, still reeling from the vicious attack Kai had released upon her. She had no idea he was so strong. And she had no doubt that Rei and Tyson could display similar strength.  
  
"Why d'you ram her like that?" asked Tyson, a roguish looking lad with bright, youthful eyes that had not allowed the events of late to darken them. Lindsay could never recall a time where she had heard Tyson complain, or grumble, or even ask for assistance. He was a happy, bubbly character, who loved to talk about his past life and was easy to get on with. He looked over at her with concern, and then turned back to Kai, shaking his inky fringe out of his grey eyes with a disapproving look.  
  
"Because she tried to ram me like that."  
  
"But Kai," Rei attempted to reason. Rei had cleaned himself up. His face was free of dirt and all of his wounds had been treated and were bandaged up neatly. His hair was tied back neatly, its long jet lengths being wrapped in a piece of cloth, and he generally looked like he had rested a little. "You can't just attack her like that! She's new!"  
  
"So."  
  
"It's okay, guys," interrupted Lindsay before this got any hotter. "I deserved it. And on the battlefield, nobody is going to spare me their full strength. I need to get used to it."  
  
Rei, Tyson and Kai looked at her, with a mixture of confusion and impressed agreement in their smiles.  
  
"Lindsay," said Kai, throwing down his pole and watching it clunk upon the gravel, "Until tomorrow. Then we take out the swords."  
  
She nodded, her curly, messy hair bobbing up and down as she did so. She hadn't had access to a brush for a long time. There was no time to be vain, or even conscious of the way one looked in this day and age. It was all about survival - and Lindsay knew she could survive with un-brushed hair for a while. She looked over at her trainer, who nodded, and she scampered back inside, knowing that she could get in a few hours of sleep before having to wake once again before the sun set.  
  
Kai turned to Rei and Tyson, watching a tiny bead of sweat drip down his nose and run off the end. He didn't like to admit it, but he was tired. He hadn't slept for a good thirty hours now. The patrol, the attack, the clean up and now Lindsay's training were taking it out of him. He hadn't eaten for that long either, and his stomach growled at him for nourishment.  
  
"How'd the clean up finish?"  
  
Rei and Tyson smiled, the sunlight grinning down upon their faces and letting them shine. The weather, although still foggy and cloudy, was brighter than usual. The sun smiled through the haze and the heat had risen rapidly, making for humid air.  
  
"Well," began Rei, "all of the windows are blocked again. There's no glass left around except the bigger pieces, which can be used in making weaponry or utensils. The torches are still burning but I asked someone to put them out. All of the beasts' bodies have been stored and salted. Injuries have been treated," he pointed to Tyson, who lifted his once yellow, now dirty grey shirt and bared his bandaged ribs proudly, "and that's about it."  
  
"Any human deaths?"  
  
"Only Jenny," answered Tyson, watching the grey gravely floor, "and her body hasn't been found."  
  
Kai looked at him for a second, and then nodded. "Good job guys."  
  
He turned, and walked in the opposite direction, facing the run down city before them, and Rei and Tyson followed, allowing their gazes to feast on the ruin of their world. Blackened, charred smoke still billowed from the remnants of the once alive city. The pulse of the city, the steady rhythm of the beating heart had died long ago. The skyline was a horror to look at. Trees, parks, statues, had all been ripped down with no mercy. The city was a literal melting pot. Some of it was still on fire, and, squinting into the distance, Rei could make out tiny images of flames glowing upon the horizon. He could even smell the tiny tinge of smoke from them.  
  
"It's sad, isn't it?" he heard Tyson say, and he half smiled.  
  
"I wouldn't call it that. It's much worse."  
  
Tyson nodded, and a slight breeze rustled through the three boys, contesting greatly with the sudden warmth on their backs. For only boys they were - thrown into this huge macrocosm of men, wars, survival games, weapons, blood, violence, horror. Only boys. They hadn't seen an adult in weeks. Months.  
  
Kai took a seat on a small patch of browning grass, brushing a bit of dirt out of the way and then smiling to himself when he remembered that he was filthy and it wouldn't make any difference. Rei and Tyson sat either side of him, and they just sat for a while, watching that distant skyline, their hearts crying for the loss of their world, their loss of innocence, and the dawn of night. Their world was an empty field, scattered with broken grain stalks, ruined plot land, and the occasional hollow man to stare at them with his beady eyes. As Tyson watched, he could suddenly picture it. The field. A gentle wind, sweeping noiselessly across the black stalks. A silhouette of a bare winter tree upon the horizon. And the hollow men, the scarecrows, watching him. Stuffed men, violent souls, as were all. And a swing. An empty swing, reflecting sunbeams from its splintered, shattered old wood. Abandoned. Lost.  
  
"Sunlight on a broken column," Tyson broke the sudden silence that had fallen upon them. "There is a tree swinging. And voices are in the wind's singing more distant, and more solemn, than a fading star. In a field. Behaving as the wind behaves---"  
  
"What on earth, Tyson?" interrupted Rei with a look of disbelief. Tyson snapped out of his little reverie, and realised he had been remembering times of long ago.  
  
"Oh, sorry. It's from a poem I studied in school. I guess it's kind of stayed with me."  
  
"It was pretty good," commented Kai, folding his arms and glancing up at the blue grey sky. "And I can see what you mean."  
  
Tyson nodded, and looked up himself, watching a tiny spiral of dark grey smoke weave its way through the air, drifting over from some burning building, some poor wreck about to finally lose its life. It was so fleeting, so flimsy; that he could easily compare it to their own lives now. They were of no importance, but were just like that piece of smoke on the wind, changing, only able to go where taken, slowly getting thicker and heavier . . .wait a second. . .  
  
"Guys, is that smoke getting thicker?"  
  
Rei glanced down, his eyes glimmering beautifully in the sunlight, and looked at Tyson. "That little grey piece? I thought so too . . ."  
  
Kai watched the spiral, growing slowly in density and size, and then suddenly jerked, as if pulled to his feet by an invisible being. He stood nimbly and then turned to face the warehouse. Rei and Tyson watched his face fall, and then they turned too.  
  
It was alight, huge, angry flames licking the slowly darkening sky, dancing miserably, a cruel fervour emitting from the very tongues and forks of the glowering mass. The buds of fire leapt out, climbing the building, flooding the sky in a cabbalistic fashion, the animal flames reaching higher and higher as if climbing upon each other to escape the confines of the warehouse.  
  
"No way . . . " mouthed Tyson as he stood still, hypnotized by the passionate, quivering flames as they danced. He couldn't move, but could only watch in despair as those evil blossoms engulfed the entire warehouse.  
  
A blur of grey darted past Tyson, ad when he looked again he realised that Kai had started off for the warehouse. Rei closely followed him, and Tyson hurried along as quickly as he could, his sore ribs proving a bit of a difficulty. He caught up with Rei and Kai as they ran, both hurtling towards the hellfire before them.  
  
"Who did you ask to put the torches out Rei?"  
  
"Um . . . I don't remember . . . maybe . . . maybe Lee? Or Max? I . . . I don't remember Kai!"  
  
"Next time, if you want a job doing, DO IT YOURSELF!"  
  
Tyson winced. Boy was Rei in trouble. And whoever had let the torches burn too long - they'd better hope that the weaponry hadn't been lost.  
  
They reached the warehouse in a matter of seconds, as they neared hearing the sounds of screaming. Outside the entrance to the warehouse was a small gathering of people, all panicking, some having grabbed supplies and weaponry in their haste to escape the volcano that lay behind them now. The three boys reached them quickly, hurtling questions back and forth, with no time to catch their breath. People milled around them, smoke lingering on their persons and filling their air. Already the atmosphere was difficult to see through.  
  
"STOP! Just wait a sec!" yelled Kai quickly as the panicking voices began to rise to an uncontrollable level. "Have we got everyone out here?"  
  
There were murmurs, and people looked around at each other. Rei noticed the blond mop of Max's hair, and he pushed his way over to him.  
  
"Max, is there anyone still in there?"  
  
It seemed that Max was thinking a little clearer than everybody else. He looked around quickly, and nodded.  
  
"We're missing . . . Lee . . . and I think everyone else is here."  
  
Kai snapped around at this, a strong, chilly breeze suddenly blowing through their shivering forms and sending tiny flecks of bright ember glow amongst them.  
  
"Lee's still in there?"  
  
Another nod from Max confirmed this, and Kai turned back to the flaming building, its walls now starting to crumble under the massive pressure of the cruel, mocking flames, which laughed and grew in the wind's presence.  
  
"Tala, with me," he called sharply to the redhead, who stood nearby, his slim form shaking from either fear or cold. Despite the warm sun of moments earlier, it now seemed colder. The sun was lost amongst the billows of black, and darkness appeared to be falling once more.  
  
Tala moved swiftly over to where Kai stood, and then, without warning, the two of them sped off towards the inferno that raged before them. The others' shouts of protestation and indignation were not heard above the crackle and hiss of the flames, and soon the two were lost to the sight of the crowd.  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
~"It's so . . . so . . . what's happening? Where . . . where am I? Where are the others? What's happened to them? Do they . . . do they remember me? Will they help me? I . . . can they . . . I hope they're safe. Away from this . . . I'm not choking . . . I won't give up . . . I won't let go. Can't . . . but it's so hard . . . no, I won't break . . . I . . . I'm faltering . . . if I just shut my eyes . . . . . . wait . . . light shedding . . . but my eyes are still groggy . . . getting brighter . . . who . . .?"~  
  
**************************************************************************** **********  
  
Lindsay began to nibble on one of her fingernails. She was watching the scene through misted glasses, and finding it difficult to follow what was happening. Kai and Tala had been gone a good four or five minutes now, and the warehouse was now a bouquet of flames, all passionate, quivering in the fading light, their scent filtering through the air, diffusing with no hesitation. Their whole world was crumbling around them once more. If only there was a way to stop it, to support it . . .  
  
They'd been gone for far too long. Lindsay glanced at Rei, and saw that he was pacing apprehensively, his face fretfully turning ever now and then back up to the flames. Tyson stood very still, his arms folded, his grey gaze merely fixed upon the building. Max was talking to Sara and they seemed to be discussing the weaponry that had been salvaged - which was not much. Lindsay shook her head at the tiny pile - two swords, one axe, a few spears and poles and four or five arrows made for pitiful pickings.  
  
~"We still have our best weapon though. The beasts. They're still here."~  
  
Lindsay blinked, the luminance of the blaze reflecting in her green orbs, and then gasped, surprised at her own thinking.  
  
"MAX! Max, come here!"  
  
Max turned from his discussion with Sara, and jogged over to Lindsay, who looked as though she were about to burst with anticipation.  
  
"What is it, Linz?"  
  
Lindsay flailed her hands in front of his face in frenzy.  
  
"DRACIEL!"  
  
Max stared at her for a moment, his bright blue eyes vivid in the quickly falling darkness. They brightened further when her words registered.  
  
"Genius Linz!"  
  
The smell of smoke beginning to waft from even within his own hair, Max shoved his dirty hand into his trouser pocket and rummaged around in it for a second. Eventually he relinquished a small purple chip, the surprisingly small prison of a mighty beast. With a determined, fighting sort of grin upon his freckly face, Max took the tiny, almost weightless chip, and, with a wink at Lindsay, he flipped the chip into the air, its lilac surface glinting in the light radiating from the flames nearby. Lindsay watched eagerly - she'd never seen this before. Only rumours heard in quiet conversation. This was going to be good.  
  
The chip spun rapidly, the smoke around it seeming to dispel, and Lindsay was so fascinated with it that she almost forgot the fire and nearly missed Max's command for Draciel to exit. She glanced at the freckled young boy and restrained from jumping out of her skin when she saw that his normally warm blue eyes had turned a beautiful lavender, the same colour as the light that now exploded from the bit. The evil scarlet and orange glaze that had surrounded them was suddenly gone, and the smell of smoke drifted away from just a split second. The heat disappeared, and left a refreshing, chilled atmosphere, and then suddenly, before Lindsay had time to explain it, there was Draciel, standing above its master, its massive, stocky body clothes in entirely different flames of mauve and blue, and its beady eyes focussed completely on Max. He smiled up at the turtle like creature, with its powerful claws and limbs like tree trunks, clothed in pieces of darker purple armour, ready for battle.  
  
"Draciel," said Max quietly, almost out of audio of the others, who were now watching in awe and wonder, their eyes wide and their faces illuminated in the lilac iridescence, "Can you . . . can you put out that fire?"  
  
A roar was his only answer, echoing and blocking out the dying cries of the warehouse. Max simple smiled, and watched as his Draciel took its steps towards the once safe haven. The ground shook tremendously as the beast approached its destination, and then, suddenly, it seemed to take in a huge breath, its whole body pulling backwards with the force of this mighty inhalation.  
  
"Here we go," commented Sara, who stood next to Max, "What a show off."  
  
Max chuckled. "Would you rather lose Tala and Kai, not to mention Lee?"  
  
Sara's eyes widened in utter fear at losing her 'arching partner', and Max would have laughed if he hadn't been interrupted by the sound of a rushing waterfall. He turned and watched with a smile as his beast released a powerful gust of thrashing waters from its clasped claws. The torrent smashed into the wall of fire that it was up against and the two immediately began to battle, raging fire versus hammering waters, the cold instantaneously knocking down thousands of the flame's army in its path.  
  
Lindsay watched with wide eyes. This was incredible. Draciel stood still, the flood of liquid still emerging from within its clasp, its tail thrashing back and forth in a display of its power.  
  
"Impressive, huh?" Max's voice came, and Lindsay nodded, brushing a curl out of her eyes to watch the battle.  
  
"That's all well and good," said Sara dryly, "but where are the others? Flooding the place won't help, Max."  
  
Max rolled his eyes, smirking at Sara's cynical voice. She was generally like that.  
  
"It might not get them out, Sara dear, but it will put out the flames. It'll save anything that hasn't been burned yet."  
  
Sara wrinkled her nose in irritation, pursed her lips shut and flicked her hair out of her face. "Yeah, whatever. Just as long as Tala . . . and the others . . . get out."  
  
Lindsay repressed a giggle, and turned back to the flames. Sara had a point. If they were trapped in there, the waters wouldn't help. But then again, the fire wasn't a good thing either. It was an awful dilemma, and all they could really do now was watch.  
  
"They'll get out," said Rei quietly, his smooth voice still able to be heard over the sound of the elements clashing ferociously. "They'll be okay."  
  
Tyson nodded. "It's true. Takes more than a bit of fire to beat those guys."  
  
Lindsay watched them both, and despite their stout, confident words, their eyes revealed that they were still extremely worried about their friends. She turned away, feeling troubled herself, and allowed her green eyes to focus on the building, the front entrance wreathed in flame, yet spills of water cascading over it. It was an odd sight to behold. When she caught sight of three figures clambering about one of the windows near the entrance, she wasn't sure that they were real, but perhaps they were just shadows, brought from this incredible mix of the two most powerfully clashing elements. She blinked, and grabbed Max's arm.  
  
"There."  
  
Max looked to where the young girl pointed, and smiled. "Yup, that's them."  
  
Besides him, Rei sprang forwards, quickly followed by Sara, and they ran towards the smouldering ruin as swiftly as they could. Tiny splashes of water covered the ground and made it slippery, but Rei and Sara were very sure footed and this proved little difficulty. The heat was dying down as they ran, and they soon reached the three shadows.  
  
Tala already stood outside the warehouse, his creamy clothes blackened with soot. He turned to face Rei upon his friend's call, his icy blue eyes startlingly bright against the black backdrop. His flaming hair also seemed put out, not by water but decorated with soot. He blinked at Rei and then turned back to the window, where the fire, the water, or the team had ripped the material barrier down. The limp form of Lee was being passed out, his whole body covered in blackness from the ashes of the flames, and a dreadful gash stretching across from the left of his stomach to the upper right of his chest. It was bleeding cruelly, and rivers of blood ran across the blackened skin, standing out as if the blood itself were alight.  
  
"Lee!" exclaimed Rei in shock, shaking his head as he ran up to Tala and helped him take the lifeless boy from his prison. They dragged him out and Rei glanced up at the window to see Kai, who was absolutely drenched from head to foot, his black shirt shiny and clinging to his torso, and his skin glistening in the dying light of the fire. His blue and grey bangs were plastered to his face and hung into his eyes irritatingly. Rei watched a drop of sooty water run from his friend's chin, and offered half a smile.  
  
"Which bright spark decided to flood us out?" Kai said with a glare at Rei and Sara as he pulled himself out of the window. Sara noticed that his trousers were just as wet.  
  
"I was against it from the start, Kai. However, if you're quick, you can stop Draciel and maybe . . . dry off in front of the fire?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
Kai took a breath of the 'clear' air outside of the building, and then helped Tala take a proper hold of Lee, who was semi conscious and mumbling something to himself. They hoisted him from the ground, Rei speaking to his friend to help him stay awake, and Sara shoving her hands in her pockets and grumbling about something or other to nobody's surprise. They moved over to the assembled group, where Max gave them a quick greeting before called off his Draciel. It stopped its attack of glittering blue currents and the giant creature seemed to dissolve into a million opalescent shards. Max greeted the others with his regular blue gaze, the lavender completely gone from the orbs, and slipped the bit chip back into his pocket.  
  
Lee was laid on the floor, and two or three of the group began to examine his wound, which was still pumping blood at an incredible rate.  
  
"What happened to him?" asked Rei, looking very upset, his amber eyes contrasting against the dark atmosphere around them. Kai watched the sky as it darkened, and grabbed Lindsay's arm, holding up her watch to his face and scanning the time.  
  
"He got hurt."  
  
Rei growled, not in the mood for Kai's strange sense of sarcasm. "How?"  
  
"Staircase."  
  
Enough said. Rei winced, and sighed. The metal staircase had collapsed, and had trapped his friend. Lindsay wrenched her arm away, as Kai had been gripping tightly. She looked down at her arm and noticed the tense red marks left by his fingers. He was obviously more upset by this than he let on. She glanced at the time. It was five minutes past four. She hated the early winter nights. They always brought with them the early darkness. The early Rages.  
  
"We need to move," she said, a little afraid of making such a blunt comment but knowing it was important that they didn't stay. The beasts would be drawn to the smell of the smoke, the charred mass. It would entice them, as where there is smoke, there is always a fire - and usually bodies. They needed to find a new shelter.  
  
Kai turned to her. "I know. But we have to make sure Lee won't die on the way."  
  
Lindsay's eyes widened. "He . . . he might die?"  
  
Kai's eyes narrowed, and he looked back down at the still, compact form of his friend. "There's a good chance."  
  
Lindsay watched the lad as he lay still, his chest dragging up and down gingerly as though each breath would simply cause more blood to seep from the wound. Sara had already set to work on the injury - she wasn't half bad at being an unqualified nurse. Her hair hung down into her eyes and she pressed her hands against the wound here and there, not bothered at all by the splurging crimson liquid that leaked from the boy that was littering her fingers and occasionally flecking into her face.  
  
"Did we save any bandages?"  
  
Tyson looked over at the pile of salvaged materials. There was no food, no medical equipment, only a few weapons and even they were dwindling in numbers.  
  
"Nope. Not even an aspirin."  
  
Sara cursed under her breath, and then turned back to the wound. Kai began to unbutton what was left of his filthy shirt but someone else got there first.  
  
"Here."  
  
Sara took Rei's bandanna with an awed look. "Seriously?"  
  
"Yeah, it's already red anyway."  
  
Sara laughed. "Okay then. But . . . I don't think it's big enough to cover it."  
  
Rei frowned. "How about . . . give me my bandanna back."  
  
Sara looked very confused, and passed back the piece of red material. Rei slipped it into his teeth for a second, and started fiddling with his hair. Sara watched, her face the perfect picture of bewilderment, and gasped as suddenly a cascade of jet-black shiny hair fell upon Rei's shoulders, stretching down to his knees, beautiful in the dim light about them. He let the white sheet of material that had tied it back fall to the floor and removed his bandanna from his mouth, tying it back again very quickly. It now fell in a long ponytail, wild and untameable, with some pieces falling forwards in a random fashion. Her eyes wide, Sara leaned over and surveyed the length of Rei's hair.  
  
"Sham-Ow . . ."  
  
Rei laughed and moved the white material towards her. She picked it up, marvelling at its length, and then made a makeshift bandage about Lee's wound.  
  
"Wait a second!" Tyson grabbed Sara and moved her away. She resisted the urge to slap him, pulled a very indignant face and spoke.  
  
"What?"  
  
"There's still something stuck in his chest!" cried Tyson, making a move to remove a glinting piece of shiny metal from Lee's weakly moving chest. Max dove forward.  
  
"NO TYSON! Don't remove it! He'll lose even more blood and that's more likely to kill him!"  
  
Tyson gave Max a very incredulous look. "Yeah right."  
  
"No, he's right!" piped in Lindsay, thoroughly amused despite their predicament. Tyson's face fell. He felt rather useless, and had only been trying to help.  
  
"Okay then."  
  
Sara turned up her nose and went back to bandaging poor Lee, who's eyes were still open a little, the usual amber glazed with something that none of the group liked to see. Lindsay turned to Kai.  
  
"Won't he be in a lot of pain, Kai?"  
  
Kai looked down at her from looking about them all, his russet glare watching the shadows that surrounded them in the darkening sky. He'd not seen anything out of place . . . yet.  
  
"He's in shock, Lindsay. I'm pretty sure he can't feel a thing. Do me a favour and go talk to him. Keep his concentration."  
  
Lindsay moved off, obeying her orders, and Kai looked around once again, his gaze constantly alert, on the prowl for any prowlers in their turn. He felt the urgency that had plagued Lindsay just moments ago. They weren't safe here. The darkness was falling . . . and they all knew what that meant. And besides . . .  
  
He knew that the beasts weren't the only ones who prowled the cities at night . . .  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
~"I can still hear them . . . they'll help me . . . don't fade away . . . don't leave me here . . . by myself . . . I . . . can't . . . please . . . I can't take the heat anymore . . . it hurts . . . . . . is that smoke?"~  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
They'd been walking for a good hour now. They'd quickly decided that they couldn't stay where they were, where the embers of the once vibrant flames would make them ample prey. And so they had moved, in the dangerous direction of the city, where the dark mist seemed to be thicker, going on Tyson's guidance, as he thought that perhaps his grandfather's dojo might still remain. It was no place to set up camp or anything, but it would have weapons, possibly food and maybe even some medical equipment. It was better than nothing, and there was nowhere else to go.  
  
Kai walked at the back of the group, constantly watching the shadows about them. Darkness had completely fallen now. They were shrouded in that bluey grey hue, where sight was hindered and senses deemed pointless. He was constantly on the lookout. Tala and Sara, the only couple who had managed to keep all of their weapons, had been told to search through the city, as there had been rumours on the horizon of survivors throughout the city for a few days now. Kai figured the survivors would have had to have some sort of safe haven. Maybe if they were lucky, his own group would be able to join them in their safety.  
  
So they were two warriors down - oh wait, three. Lee. Oh . . . four, including Tyson, who, although he was able to walk, could not wield a weapon. That left . . . himself, Rei, Max . . . and Lindsay. Okay, so that left himself, Rei and Max.  
  
He sighed. This whole thing was a mess, and really did fear for their survival. Around them was pitch black and misty, freezing cold, and they were in the middle of a cyber-beast infested breeding ground. They were missing a good few warriors and weapons, and frankly things weren't looking up. He was running on the remnants of sleep from at least thirty hours ago, and hey, he had a headache. What more could go wrong?  
  
Oh wait. He'd forgotten about them.  
  
Cannibals.  
  
He'd kept his thoughts to himself on this - nobody else in the team knew. He'd spotted them on a city search a little while ago. A group of five or six youngsters, whom he didn't know and wouldn't want to. They'd been eating something larger than chicken or turkey, roasting it over a fire, and Kai had almost reeled when he had seen the small, severed head next to the fire, its mouth open in a petrified scream, tongue lolling out and spectacles broken. The fuzzy brown mass of hair had been splattered with globules of his own blood, and Kai realised that he had been looking at the body of Kenny. The Chief. The only one who would have had the brains to sort the group out in this sort of situation.  
  
He'd told the group that Kenny had been killed in battle. They'd believed him and he'd been glad of it. Nobody would have liked to know that Kenny had been eaten by fellow human beings, who by all rights should be grouping together to stand up to this threat, not killing each other. Later on, Kai had understood Hilary's sudden disappearance. No one had seen her die - in fact, she had rarely fought in battle. She had been one of the youngest members of the group, an outgoing, brave young girl. In fact, countless numbers of others had disappeared vaguely, nobody knowing what had happened and most simply assuming innocently that they had been taken in battle.  
  
~"Is that what happened to Jenny then?"~ Kai thought as he walked at a brisk pace, his eyes piercing the gloom around them. He'd noticed with a heavy heart the flitting, ephemeral shadows that followed them in silence, and didn't know whether they were the beasts or the cannibals. All he could do was let his group walk on; get them to Tyson's dojo, where they had arranged to meet with Tala and Sara. At least it wasn't far now - about another ten minutes of walking and they would be there.  
  
The shadows unnerved him. He could see things moving, and he hated being at the bottom of the ladder here. Hated being at a disadvantage.  
  
Something moved to his left, and he glanced over, catching a glimpse of a dash of red.  
  
/What just happened? The Hollywood empire strikes back. . . And this time I'm standing in their way/  
  
He felt the adrenaline pumping throughout his body, a weighty surge that flowed throughout his already pulsating veins. He was too tired for this, but still he slipped his hand about the hilt of his sword, which lay in its sheathe at his side. He was definitely glad someone had rescued it for him.  
  
"Rei?" he called a little more quietly than he would have usually called his Vice, "We've got something . . . eyes open."  
  
At the front of the group, Rei heard this call only just. He narrowed his amber eyes, glaring about the group cautiously, tightening his grip on his spear. Max, who stood directly behind him, heard too, and also prepared his spear. The darkness made them all tense and suspicious, and the panicked breathing of the group behind them caused some confusion. It was difficult to tell the difference between the noises of the enemy and the noises of the allies.  
  
Kai turned at a sound behind him, and, squinting through the fog, could make out a figure, moving towards them. He clenched his fists. Part of him was glad it wasn't a beast.  
  
Part of him wasn't.  
  
He peered through the mist once more, tensing his arm, ready to yank his sword from its sheathe. He had a feeling that even though he could only see one, there would be more.  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
~"A sword? Will he attack? How many are left . . . will I make it? Everything's spinning . . . I hate this . . . am I going to die?"~  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
With a wrinkle of his nose, Kai wrenched his arm upwards and removed his glinting sword from about his waist, and lifted it, bright in the dusk of the night, the splicing metallic sound of the sword grating against the sheathe cracking the silence of darkness. Above them, the moon watched on, a dying spectator, blessing them all with what little light she could afford.  
  
Rei was beside Kai in an instant, and Kai found that Max was on his right. They had both raised their spears and were ready to attack. Breathing in deeply, and wondering if they'd get out of this alive, Kai stepped forwards towards their predator.  
  
The mist cleared, and the aggressor could be clearly seen. Spiky hair fell into hopeless eyes, their dull jade almost given up completely. Broken posture, trembling, staggering towards them, the will to go on having been devoured from within. A slight breeze blew through the black hair, and a slight red streak rustled across his pale green orbs of the eyes. The figure stumbled forwards a few more steps, before being beaten down by the wind, and falling with a lifeless thud to the hard, ruined ground.  
  
Kai, Rei and Max stared for a moment, utterly taken aback. Another breeze blew among them and seemed to take away any suspicion or ambiguity from moments earlier. They couldn't take their eyes off the figure who had fallen before them.  
  
"OZUMA!"  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
Sherbet Mayhem: Oil Pastel, can you do an impression of a coat?  
  
Oil Pastel: Erm . . . can you?  
  
Sherby: Yup ^_^ Just watch! *stands up and goes limp* See?  
  
Oil Pastel: Um . . . good one, Sherby.  
  
Sherby: so, readers, how d'ya like it? Just a quick note to first of all say that when Sara said "Sham-ow" it was that word that crazy people say that is pronounced "ShamOh!" with the emphasis on the 'oh' and the 'sham' sounding the same as the word ram. Shamow! Just in case there was confusion there.  
  
The lyrics that Kai was thinking about were by Blindside, as usual. The song? Caught A Glimpse. The poem earlier that Tyson quoted was by T.S.Elliot, and was called "The Hollow Men". It's a really good poem.  
  
Um . . . oh yeah, just a quick synopsis of the last chappie coz some people didn't quite get it. Here we go:  
  
Boris has created a race of cyber bit beasts, that only generally come out at night. There has been a world wide electricity cut, and there is no electricity left. Most people are dead, and there are only a few survivors, and most of them are kids. Those who are surviving have formed a resilience against the dark beasts, and are determined to survive. Last chapter, Tyson got injured, Jenny died, and . . . um . . . that's really it. The four sacred bit beasts, Draciel, Dragoon, Drigger and Dranzer, are still available to the good side, but only at great risk, and so the kids are trying to fight without the use of them. However, some circumstances will call for them to come out.  
  
Is that all? If you have any problems, just email me with your questions and I'll be more than happy to answer.  
  
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and please review! I'm starting to get into the swing of things now, and I like this chapter better than the first. Hope you did too. Once again, thanks for all the encouragement, and REVIEW! Coz it makes me smile.  
  
Oil Pastel: And that you don't wanna see.  
  
Sherby: SHUT UP! *cough* Review! And I'll see you next time I update. The time is . . . 17:10. It took me far too long to write this thing. Ah well ;p  
  
Au Revoir!  
  
Oil Pastel: What are you on about? You're not French!  
  
Sherby: Shut up or I'll kill Tally wally!  
  
Oil Pastel: *zips lip dutifully*  
  
C ya, and God bless x x x 


	3. Red

Sherby: Hey and howdy, my readers! Welcome back, and enter the world of scrummy yummy chapter three!  
  
Oil Pastel: What the hell. . .?  
  
Sherby: HEEHEE  
  
Oily: I think she's delirious with pain. Why, you ask? Because . . .  
  
Sherby: SHE just braided my hair.  
  
Oily: Yer point?  
  
Sherby: I'd better get on with this. Okay, Thankies for all da lovely reviews! Marvellous, honestly! Lol. Anyhows . . . yup, here we go, and enjoy chapter three! Any questions, ya know what to do. Email me at reiko_hiwatari@hotmail.com - or, if I don't email you back (coz I'm lazy) then try Oil Pastel here, who frankly can answer any questions better than I can, at sara_bloom@hotmail.com. Yup. Au revoir. Till the end of the chapter. Toodles!  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
Chapter Three: Red  
  
"I'm not helping."  
  
Sara raised a hand and turned up her nose. She wasn't having any of this. Getting her hands all dirty and blood covered - well, she'd already done that once tonight. Why should she help this guy anyway? Did she know him? No. Did she even care? No. Was he good looking? No . . . well . . .  
  
~"Helping could be good . . ."~ she mused, turning back to the lad lying on the floor. They were positioned at Tyson's old Dojo - the house Tyson had once shared with his grandfather. It was empty and abandoned now, broken and burned, like most buildings within the city constricts, but it was slightly more sheltered than some areas, and so was just that extra bit more safe. She and Tala had arrived about ten minutes ago, after a brief search through the city for more survivors or a place where the team could hide out until morning (after the devastating loss of their safe haven hours earlier). Unfortunately, neither had been found. No survivors, no haven. Just nothing. An empty expanse of barren, smoking city life and charred population had ended in a dead city. Every building had been ripped down to the floor. Every dead body cleared by the beasts for their own uses. There was nowhere left to hide. And soon, they'd even be here, at the Dojo . . . where would they go then?  
  
"What's his name again? Ozzy?"  
  
Rei rolled his eyes, and looked up at Sara from his position on the floor next to the unconscious newcomer. "His name is Ozuma."  
  
Sara nodded. "Ozzy it is then. Hmm . . . how do you know him?"  
  
She glanced over at Kai, who was kneeling next to Ozuma's head. She couldn't see him too well in the gloom of the night. It was pretty silent all around them, and a strange smell of charred meat was on the air. Above them, the stars were invisible, veiled behind the sheathe of mist that rained down so often upon their days now. She could just about make out the russet glare of their Captain, and she smirked. She had hardly ever shown Kai any respect - in fact, she probably never would. She didn't understand why Jenny had spoken about him so often to her in private; she didn't see what qualities her friend had seen in him. He was just another warrior to her. Okay, so he was strong. Big deal. She knew better guys.  
  
"He's an old acquaintance," replied Kai without looking up at her, concentrating on what he was doing. Sara squinted so she could actually see what was going on.  
  
"Is that . . . your shirt?"  
  
Kai looked up, annoyed. "Yes. Can you let me concentrate?"  
  
Sara rolled her eyes dubiously, her eyes still on his bare chest. He'd removed his shirt? What for?  
  
Kai lifted Ozuma's head gingerly, and then lay it back down, attempting not to move it too much. He'd wrapped his shirt in a tight bundle and created a makeshift pillow for his injured companion. Occasionally, when the moonlight finally managed to pierce the net of mist that covered them all, she could see the rare shimmer of damp upon the pillow. Ozuma was bleeding. Badly.  
  
She took a seat on the floor next to Lindsay, who was watching intently.  
  
"Hope they don't expect us to give up our shirts," laughed Sara, attempting to lighten the mood. Lindsay offered a forced grin.  
  
"Hehe, yeah."  
  
Sara sighed. This was getting too depressing.  
  
"Does anyone have any more bandages?" came Tyson's voice. Looking over, Sara could see that his shirt was ripped to shreds, as he had stripped it in order to tie up Ozuma's wounds. There were so many. Glancing at Rei, she watched as he unravelled his wrist bandages - the traditional ones he wore to remind him of home.  
  
"Gosh, fine, here."  
  
She stood up and stomped over to the unconscious Ozuma. She looked down at his face for a moment, wondering why she was doing this, and then removed her shirt grudgingly.  
  
"WHA?!?!" Tala jumped up, a shocked expression on his face as the light blue material slipped off Sara's toned brown shoulders. "Sara, don't!"  
  
Sara raised an eyebrow. "Tala, I have to. Besides . . . " she slipped the shirt off entirely to reveal a white T-Shirt underneath, " . . . Would I?"  
  
Tala sighed and sat back down (masking a slight grimace of disappointment . . .), running a hand through his bright unruly hair. His eyes were still ice bright in the deep purple atmosphere, and the soot from his earlier experiences was starting to disappear. Suddenly reminded of his adventure in the warehouse, he glanced over at Lee, who was starting to come round a little. It couldn't be easy for the poor guy. He had been carried simply by being held, arms and legs, a good mile now, right into the heart of the city. Plus the dangerous wound across his chest and stomach didn't help matters.  
  
Max was talking to the Chinese boy. Good old Max. He was a very caring boy, sloppy as it sounded, and, although he knew he was in a dangerous position, here, in the middle of a beast infested city, was risking his time and effort talking to the semi conscious Lee and making him feel as comfortable as he could. In fact, the whole team was displaying the highest quality by helping the injured. Even Sara - probably the coldest girl he had ever met in his life merely because of her sarcastic tongue and sharp wit - was helping out. As a matter of fact, the only person that wasn't helping was . . . himself.  
  
"I'm going to check around," Tala remarked in his smooth, rather nasal voice, placing his rough hands upon his knees and standing up slowly. He was tired, just as Kai was. The whole team was tired. They needed a break. Being constantly on the watch, on the alert for any sort of new danger, like rabbits above ground, was exhausting in itself. There was no peace of mind in a place like this, and relentless worries plagued all of their minds, haunted them, wouldn't leave, and wouldn't sleep without the aid of the sunlight.  
  
Tala turned away from the team, and made his way to the front entrance of the Dojo - well, what remained of it. That beautiful wall of delicate red brick had been broken and burned to the extent that it stood lower than even the shortest members of the group. The once awe inspiring garden about the Dojo was charred and lifeless, all forms of new birth extinguished, even the tiniest shoots and weeds ripped from the ground in a furious, vicious attempt to destroy any hope of prosperity for the human race. The water in the pond at the back of the house was a murky sort of brown colour, probably too dirty to even consider drinking, devoid of life. The house itself only had one tattered room remaining - the one that the team were in at the moment, and even that was missing a roof and one wall. The whole thing was a shambles.  
  
Tala had watched Tyson's face when he had seen his former home. It had hurt him badly, that and the fact that his grandfather was nowhere to be seen. Both Tala and Tyson knew that it was highly likely the old man was dead - taken long ago by the creatures of the night. Tyson, being Tyson, had avoided the subject and gotten on with the matter at hand - rescuing Ozuma from death's claws. They'd worked for a good ten or fifteen minutes on the boy, who had collapsed before them in a pitiful state. Tala did admire that about his team - they wouldn't let another survivor down, regardless of who it was.  
  
He ran his azure eyes over the crumbled line of the red brick wall, focussing on the brick yet taking in what lay behind it sharply, constantly on the lookout for any enemies, and attack. It was essential that they had a lookout. He thought it silly of Kai not to appoint one. But he did have a lot on his hands at the moment. Two injured, and no home. Their world was falling apart before their eyes - and they couldn't even see that due to the cruel darkness about them.  
  
He took a deep breath, trying to push these depressing thoughts out of his head and think of happier times, both before him and ahead of him. He was hopeful - more than hopeful - that they'd somehow get out of this. And he hadn't lost everything - not quite. Still in his pocket he clung to his Wolborg - his faithful beast that had never abandoned him, no matter what. He would never give his Wolborg up, not to anyone. Because he knew Wolborg would never give up on him.  
  
A shadow to his left made him jump, and his gaze snapped in that direction, glowing with a chill in the darkness. He found that he had been joined by Kai.  
  
"We need to move on," said Tala quickly, never shy, never afraid to voice his opinions. Kai sighed.  
  
"I know. But we can't leave Lee and Ozuma. They're in no position to travel. I don't know what to do."  
  
Tala glanced at his Captain in surprise. The great Kai Hiwatari, asking for his help? Surely not!  
  
"Well, if you're asking me . . . " started Tala.  
  
"I'm not asking you."  
  
Tala smirked, knowing full well why Kai was out there. He just had too much pride to ask for help.  
  
"Fine. You keep watch," Tala said, still smirking rather nastily, as he turned to go back inside, ignoring the chill wind that shot through them suddenly. Kai turned to the city, his eyes shrewdly gazing at the horizon.  
  
"Should . . . I . . . should we leave 'em?"  
  
Tala stopped at this, another smile tickling his lips. So Kai had finally done it.  
  
"I don't think so," he answered, without turning about, now noticing the cold wind and enjoying the feel of it as it moved through his hair and cleansed his face of earlier soot. "We'll manage. There are five or six of us stronger members left. We'll carry them. As long as we don't lose any more of us, we'll be fine."  
  
Kai breathed in the air about them, savouring the cleaner smell than he was used to. This area of the city was slightly less polluted than where their base had been.  
  
"Okay. I'll trust you, Tala."  
  
Tala nodded. "I know you will. You don't trust yourself anymore."  
  
Kai snapped around, the wind blowing his bangs across his piercing gaze. "What?"  
  
"It's true!" persisted Tala, not in the least afraid of his former teammate, "You don't know what to do with us and you know it."  
  
"Oh, and you do know, Tala? All you're interested in is Sa---"  
  
"AT LEAST I can think of ways to get us out of this jam!" interrupted Tala smoothly, attempting to keep his voice lowered. They others needn't know about this little 'discussion'.  
  
Kai stared at him for a moment, before turning back into the wind. "Go back inside, Tala," he said quietly, his voice sounding a little defeated.  
  
Tala watched his team Captain, dressed only in his trousers and shoes, the tattered remains of his scarf hanging limply about his neck, his bare chest splattered with flecks of painful scarlet blood, his own and others', and his face tired and pale.  
  
"Okay."  
  
He backed away, appreciating that his Captain, however defeated in this little argument, wasn't defeated yet. He needed his time. Tala merely stepped back towards the inside of the Dojo, into the interior darkness, planning to start a fire somewhere and sharpen some arrows in the light it offered. That's if there was any firewood to be found.  
  
~"Unlikely,"~ he thought pessimistically. He had never been an optimist. Despite the fact that he believed they would all get out of this hellhole, he was dubious as to how long it would take, or how many of them would survive. In fact, he doubted that more than three of them would make it alive. He was determined to be one of them.  
  
~"I will never let them break me,"~ he growled to himself, his icy blue eyes lighting for just a second with a cold fire that he had mostly forgotten. He slipped into the Dojo, his face a neutral mask, watching once again the team doing their best to save Ozuma's life. They seemed to have things a little more under control now - the young boy lay still on the floor, bandaged in a strange array of multicolour, scraps of different material sacrificed to save his life. Nearby lay Lee, still talking weakly to Max, and Rei sat still against one of the walls, his face bloodied and tired, the glow of his eyes slowly being extinguished by all around them. Tyson stayed next to Ozuma, watching over his sleeping ally, and, not too far away, sat Lindsay and Sara, looking through the pitiful amount of weapons they had left and looking a little depressed. Then there was a crowd of youngsters, about ten or eleven years of age, who sat together, not really sure what was going on and feeling they should keep themselves to themselves. Tala wasn't interested in them - they showed little interest in him, and so why should he return the favour?  
  
He started to look around for some firewood unsuccessfully. There was nothing. He had hoped there would be some wood, some food - anything just to sustain the group for a little while longer. But everything was gone. Help was practically impossible. They would have to look elsewhere.  
  
Singling out Rei again, Tala made his way across the small room and sat next to the boy. He generally got on well with Rei - the two respected each other enough to like each other and not compete - which is more than could be said for some members of the team.  
  
"Hey Tala," smiled Rei as the redhead took a seat, slumping down against the wall and allowing his slim form to crumple into a more relaxed position for once.  
  
"Rei."  
  
"Did you see anything?" asked Rei, attempting to make conversation. He was tired of these long silences - they made him so uncomfortable.  
  
"Nope. Just darkness."  
  
"That's what scares me the most," commented Rei sensibly, running a hand across his face and managing to smear some more blood upon the pale skin. "Damn."  
  
Tala laughed. "It's not like you're any dirtier than the rest of us."  
  
With a raised eyebrow and a smile, Rei agreed, and sighed. He was so tired - not just physically, but mentally. So exhausted that he would love to just stop caring about his own survival, stop caring about the rest of the world's survival, and just, for once, enjoy a dreamless sleep. They invaded his dreams often of late, and so he preferred to sleep less. Unfortunately, this resulted in an annoying lack of energy. It was a no win situation - and he couldn't help but feel that the rest of the group was also in the same situation as he was.  
  
"Kai just told me he was thinking about leaving Lee and Ozuma behind."  
  
Rei snapped up at this, and turned to face Tala, a confused frown upon his golden features. "What?"  
  
"I know, I thought the same thing. Not like him, is it? Maybe he's losing what he once had."  
  
Rei shook his head. "Nah, not Kai. He's just . . . I dunno, he hasn't slept in a good while. I guess he's tired."  
  
"We all are," protested Tala, "But that doesn't mean we abandon our teammates!"  
  
"I know, I know," agreed Rei, "But he has more to cope with than you think, Tala. He has to think about everybody's safety."  
  
"And I don't?"  
  
"I didn't mean that."  
  
Tala pursed his lips together, annoyed. It wasn't like he didn't do his fair share in this operation! How dare Rei suggest that?  
  
"You know I didn't mean that Tala," continued Rei a little hesitantly, not sure why he cared if he had angered Tala but carrying on amending anyway, "But we can't claim to have more - or less - worries than anyone else. We should just all support each other when we need it - whether we ask for help or not."  
  
Tala nodded, agreeing. Rei had always been a diplomat. An admirable quality.  
  
A sudden crash interrupted both of them, and they jerked their heads up towards the open wall of the room. Tyson and Max leaped to their feet, adrenaline pumping. Hearts racing. Eyes bolting madly in this sudden rush, sudden lash of vigour and energy. Fear jolted through each of their veins like insane lighting pulsating through their beings, and they sprang towards the exit.  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
Tyson gasped when he got outside into the cold wind, which had picked up to a mad pace and howled inconsistently around them. The remnants of the red brick wall had been shattered into thousands of flecks and pieces and lay scattered across the floor. More frightening was the ten-foot dragon that loomed over him, its scales glistening in the mist, somehow reflecting in the heavy air around them. The green eyes glittered nastily, and its breath was so loud that Tyson could hear it above anything else just for a quick moment. He was unarmed, and so backed away quickly, calling inside the Dojo for swift reinforcements. He could hear Lindsay and Sara fumbling through the scarce weaponry pile, and turning swiftly he caught sight of a spear flying toward him. He caught it deftly, not in the least afraid of the weapon, and turned to face the evil creature that loomed above him. Looking around, he could see that this thing hadn't come alone. There were about eight of these things milling about his old garden, all similar in size, all cruel in purpose, and powerful in strength.  
  
Out of the corner of his eyes, Tyson saw the flaming hair of Tala as he began a torrent of arrows upon the leathery hides of the beasts. The scent of meat littered the air, and Tyson could tell that they had been feasting only minutes ago. He felt a quick wave of hopelessness, just looking upon the massive hoard of mighty beasts that advanced upon them, but that was quickly removed when he hurled his spear forwards with an aggressive snarl into the chest of the dragon that watched him with no relent. It rammed into its skin and skipped back off again, and Tyson's face fell in fear.  
  
"What?"  
  
He scrambled backwards, his hair falling into his eyes irritatingly, as the beast continued to advance upon him.  
  
~"How? How did it just brush off my attack like that?"~ Tyson 's mind span with questions as he moved towards the Dojo, eyes never moving from the hideous creature, its scales black to match the colour of its heart.  
  
"Tyson!"  
  
Tyson turned, and suddenly ducked, knowing what was coming. He pressed himself to the floor as a volley of arrows shot straight over his head and poured into the dragon's face, skimming areas of skin but ramming cruelly into its eyes and nose. The creature burst into blood red tears and roared as it backed away from Tyson, who still covered his head on the floor. He glanced up after a moment. Tala and Sara stood side-by-side, bows up and at the ready, and more arrows prepared to be fired again.  
  
"Go for the eyes, Tyson. You won't break their skin easily," said Tala, lowering his bow for just a second to talk to Tyson properly. Tyson nodded, scrambling to his worn out feet, his ribs hurting from the impact when he hit the floor. They were still very sore from his previous encounters with the monsters. Still, now wasn't the time to give up, and, amidst cries of pain and eagerness for battle, he swept up his spear and turned to look for another monster.  
  
His grey gaze caught sight of one, a huge, bulky, strong looking creature, thrashing about at the back of the Dojo. He nimbly ran about the ruin and entered the back garden, where he discovered there were three or four creatures, two already slain on the floor, puddles of blood seeping around them. A flash of amber to his right showed him that Rei was back here, and he had already caught sight of Max at the front of the Dojo. He fixed his eyes upon the beast he wanted to claim next. Oddly enough, this didn't faze him. Tala and Sara had discovered the weakness of this type of beast for now, and so he had the advantage, not physically but mentally. He knew where to hit them hardest. And he was actually beginning to enjoy himself. Having the advantage made for a pleasant change.  
  
He stopped short unexpectedly, not quite understanding why his body made him do this, and his eyes widened. A massive trail of flame, deep green in colour and burning hot to the touch, blazed across the front of his face and he stumbled backwards, amazed that he hadn't been injured by it. It flashed horridly, jade tongues licking the air, hungry for fresh meat, and Tyson glanced to the source. The dragon he had been watching, preying upon, had opened its jaws in a vicious attempt to crush anyone surrounding it. Luckily enough, it seemed that no one had been caught up in the emerald glaze of that weapon. Catching his breath for a moment, Tyson advanced, not frightened by the fire of this beast, and watching its eyes with his own as it turned away from him, facing something else that Tyson could not see.  
  
"HEY! Lizard breath!"  
  
Tyson called out to it, well aware that if this was the best line he could think of he was running out of ideas, but knowing he had to catch its attention. The beast ignored his protests and advanced in the opposite direction.  
  
"HEY!" Tyson yelled indignantly, getting annoyed. It wasn't rude enough that these things had trashed his former home and probably eaten every living relative of his - no, they were ignoring him too!  
  
"That's it!"  
  
Tyson snarled and threw the spear forward in frustration, knowing that it would be useless to do this but angry beyond belief at this audacious creature. The spear bounced off, but obviously the beast felt it, because it turned in fury, its footsteps shaking the very foundations of the earth beneath them. Tyson watched it, incensed, and then caught sight of what it had been advancing towards.  
  
"No way!"  
  
With a truly angry growl now, letting himself fill with rage, he yanked his spear up from the floor, crying out in his anger.  
  
"So," he said, attempting to control his voice, watching the dragon as it advanced, tall and undefeated, "You think you can just pick on friends of mine like that, huh? Think again, freak."  
  
Wrinkling his nose and snarling animalistically, Tyson raised the spear and ran forwards with it, determined to slay this foul being. He'd forgotten about the green fire it could emit from its being, and so was taken completely by surprise when he was met with a burst of flame from the jaws of his foe.  
  
"ARGHHH!"  
  
Tyson skidded, and simply watched as the snake trail of vengeful blaze sprinted towards him with no mercy. He closed his grey eyes, not wanting them to be lit with the jealous green, and waited for the impact.  
  
It never came.  
  
He opened an eye cautiously, wondering what on earth had happened, and looked around to see the blaze of jade thrash past his face and miss by inches. He gasped, the breath taken out of him, and looked back at the beast.  
  
He could see the golden hilt of Kai's sword extruding from its thick neck, and across the other side, the tip of the sword could be seen, flashing silver, dotted here and there with the occasional tint of rouge.  
  
Tyson certainly hadn't expected that. Moments ago, Kai had been down on the floor, at the complete mercy of the dragon, and he hadn't looked like he would be getting up any time soon. Now he stood next to the flailing dragon, shoulders heaving in rakes of air. He reached upwards and removed his sword, yanking it roughly out of the dragon's flesh before it collapsed to the ground, the life drained from it.  
  
The tip of the sword grazed the infertile soil, and Kai's arm drooped with the weight, pulled down by gravity. He swayed on his feet for a moment before slipping to his knees dizzily, unable to stand. In parallel, the beast hit the floor, blood gushing from its wound like a fountain and leaking in lashings onto the browny-black earth.  
  
Tyson sprang forward, alarmed. He could see no visible wound upon his Captain, but he was obviously injured if he couldn't stand. He grabbed Kai by the shoulders and looked into his face. No wounds to be seen.  
  
"Kai? What is it?"  
  
Kai opened his mouth to talk, but no sound came out, just rasping air for a moment. His eyes were not glazed, as Tyson expected, but merely dull and lacklustre.  
  
"Kai?" Tyson repeated, alarmed at his Captain's lack of response. He scanned over the tall boy, still supporting him, aware of the danger around them, searching for any wounds.  
  
"I can't find anything, Kai, what's wrong?"  
  
Tyson looked desperately at Kai, searching for an answer, the sounds of the battle still intense around them. The wind blew through them, picking up more power by the moment, and Tyson watched the tattered remains of Kai's once white scarf shift backwards and trail in the rush of air. And it revealed what Tyson had been searching for.  
  
Tyson's face fell further, and he shook his head, suddenly unable to breath. He choked out the words.  
  
"No . . . Kai . . ."  
  
From the top left of Kai's neck ran a deep slit, stretching around to the front centre and down to the right of his collarbone. It poured blood as Tyson watched it with woeful eyes, and, if Tyson looked closely, he could just about see Kai's windpipe, unbroken as yet but looking as though it could snap open at any second. He watched Kai swallow, his throat dry despite the sudden wetness running through it, and more blood, scarlet and deadly, oozed out of the brutal wound.  
  
Tyson caught his breath with effort. He'd never seen anything like this. He was surprised that Kai was still alive; never mind able to dispose of one final beast before his body gave in to its injury. Not quite knowing what to do, Tyson could only think to call over his friends.  
  
"REI! REI GET OVER HERE!" he screamed, his grey eyes focused immovably upon the wound. He could see Kai watching him, those brown eyes not quite put out yet. Could he even breathe? Tyson didn't have a clue. All he knew that one of his best friends was about to die, and if he wanted to save him he would have to get him off this blood soaked battle field and inside.  
  
He heard lighter footsteps than those of their enemy, and turned to see Rei approaching swiftly, a deep scratch running down his face, and one arm looking blackened and scorched. He had obviously been caught in the path of another one of these dragons. Still, he looked alert and able, so to speak, and he halted next to Tyson.  
  
"What?"  
  
Tyson nodded to Kai, but he didn't need to. Rei's exclamation had been one of disbelief, not one of question. He dropped to his knees and leaned forward, amber eyes wide and shocked at the bloody mess before them.  
  
"Kai, can you hear us?"  
  
Kai didn't move his body, but merely averted his gaze so he was looking at Rei instead of Tyson. This was enough to answer Rei's question.  
  
"Good. Don't move, okay. Try not to breathe hard on it - I know that's difficult. You'll be okay."  
  
Kai watched Rei for a moment or two after he finished speaking. He knew that even if he tried he couldn't speak. He wasn't about to try. When that beast had torn his throat in the instant the attack had come, he hadn't known what had hit him. He had simply been robbed of all air but the occasional mouthful, and had been focused on the fact that he was about to drown in his own blood. He could feel it, trickling down his throat foully, some exiting and seeping across his neck, dripping down his bare chest and soaking his tattered scarf all the way through. He hadn't given up though. No, he'd fought on. Wasn't about to let his team down, no matter what. When Tyson had been in the path of that fire, he had seen how close the boy had come to death. He couldn't let that happen, and his last strength had slipped out on saving the boy's life. Now, sounds, sights, smells began to swim and merge as one blood red hue, clouding his eyes and framing all he saw. Not that he saw much - the darkness was getting heavier around him, and he knew he wasn't going to last long.  
  
He swallowed again, feeling oddly dehydrated, and felt the urge to cough.  
  
"Don't!" warned Rei, his own heart racing in utter fear for his friend. "Don't you do it, Kai."  
  
Tyson looked from one to the other, and then watched in horror as Kai's eyes flickered and fell shut, the boy's world disappearing once more about him. He fell backwards and Rei slipped around deftly, catching their friend and supporting his neck as best he could.  
  
"Tyson, we . . . we have to get him inside." Rei said quietly, his face white. He looked up at Tyson, and Tyson saw the need for reassurance and aid in Rei.  
  
"I'll help you, Rei."  
  
Tyson offered Rei a wonky smile, though his eyes were clouded with misty waters. Rei glanced down at his hand, already soaked in Kai's blood. Each breath Kai took was a compromise - he could either have air or blood, but, in this situation, not both. Every breath he scraped, more blood pumped out.  
  
"Let's get him inside, then," said Tyson, nodding determinedly, helping Rei lift Kai from under his arms. Blood spilled from the wound, splashing over Tyson's own hands, and he shuddered, resisting the urge to vomit. This was awful. He knew then and there that Kai's main jugular had been slashed. His chances of survival were so slim that Tyson didn't want to think about it.  
  
"Um . . . Tyson?"  
  
Tyson glanced at Rei, who had stopped moving.  
  
"What, Rei?"  
  
Rei looked up to behind Tyson, and Tyson noticed the shadow, the black shadow that had fallen over all three of them.  
  
"Crud," he cursed, not turning just yet. He was unarmed, as was Rei. His eyes widened in fear, and he slowly spun, knowing what he would see anyway.  
  
~"This is it,"~ he thought sadly, ~ "Another one bites the dust, huh?"~  
  
He caught sight of the dragon looming over him, stretching up to its full height and its jaws grinning at him lustily. Tyson once again closed his eyes, knowing that Rei was doing the same.  
  
There was a pause, and then a thud.  
  
~"What is it with me and closing my eyes? Does it scare them off or something?"~ Tyson thought a little sarcastically to himself. He opened both eyes this time, and watched as the dragon tottered backwards with a roar of agony. A spear had sliced into its eye, and stuck straight out. Looking at it made Rei feel ill. He glanced about, looking for their saviour - but the only person he could see was Lindsay.  
  
Lindsay?  
  
She grabbed another spear, her curly locks crossing her face in the wind, her clothes bloodied but her face determined.  
  
"Get away from them!" she yelled at the top of her voice, and Rei watched in admiration as she hurled another spear, aiming for its ear and only just missing the mark.  
  
~ "I'm impressed!"~ Rei smiled as Lindsay advanced. Her green eyes matched those of the beast eerily enough, and she snarled.  
  
"I said MOVE!"  
  
The beast stumbled, its whole body writhing in pain as it attempted unsuccessfully to dislodge the infiltrating spear. Lindsay laughed.  
  
"I owe Kai some thanks! I didn't know I could aim so well!"  
  
Rei smiled at her, and then glanced over at the front of the house, the front garden, where he could see the massive shape of Wolborg towering above the shattered ruin of the Dojo. The mighty white wolf was radiant and luminous in the blackness around them. Obviously Tala had felt cause for heavier artillery. It howled, its entire form wreathed in ice white flame, and began to brawl with the nearest dragon. There were only about three left now, at least there were according to Rei.  
  
"Tyson, let's go!" he yelled quickly, over the noise of the white wolf. The battle raged on around them, and Rei was about to pull Kai's limp form once again, when he felt something slam into him hard, and he toppled to the side, losing his grip on his slowly slipping friend and rolling over on the solid ground.  
  
He landed hard, and his black bangs, now dirty with the mud and dead soil of the ground, fell into his eyes. He growled and pushed himself to his feet, looking around manically, trying to make sense of what had happened. He caught sight of Tyson, also on the floor, rubbing his head in pain. But . . .  
  
"Where's Kai?" he hollered to Tyson, who had now started looking for who - or what, indeed - it was that had rammed into them like that. A scream from Lindsay grabbed both of their attention, and she pointed upwards frantically.  
  
"REI! TYSON! LOOK!"  
  
They glanced skywards swiftly, their eyes bright with energy and adrenaline, and both of their faces crumpled.  
  
Soaring above them was yet another dragon beast, larger this time, a deep red hue in colour and its fangs glinting through the mist it seemed to revel in. The moon sheathed upon its scales and made it glitter in a morbid fashion, and its long tail trailed behind it as though some sort of territorial marker. This area was theirs. The team were invading, and they needed to get out.  
  
Most disturbing for Rei was the sight of their Captain, dangling limply in its talons, blood still rushing from his wounds, all over him now, in his hair, on his face, and he almost looked like some sort of demon, as though he belonged there, as though he should go with the foul creature. Rei instantly began to run towards the front of the wrecked Dojo, closely followed by Tyson. The back garden was devoid of life now anyway, apart from Lindsay, who proceeded to check for any more beasts hiding in the surrounding area.  
  
Rei plunged into the midst of people at the front of the house. There was one more beast alive here, and as Rei watched, it fell to the floor, its head swaying as it succumbed to gravity. Max emerged from behind the creature, once again covered in dirt and blood.  
  
"Max, where's Tala?"  
  
Max glanced over, and smiled. "Kicking butt with Wolborg, that's where!"  
  
Rei nodded, and darted over to the massive form of the unbeatable wolf, which stood proud and tall, just like its master by its feet.  
  
"TALA!" yelled Rei, scrambling across the littered bodies in the garden. He saw Tala spin around, alert at the sound of his own normally smooth voice. Rei skidded to a halt next to Tala, and watched the redhead's eyes cautiously. They were icy white - no longer that cold, azure blue. Now his irises seemed to have disappeared into the dazzling white of their background, and all that was left was a tiny black pupil, constricted anyway due to the adrenaline rush Tala was on. The release of his beast had altered his appearance. There had always been a very close link between any master and their beast. Rei often wondered whether his own eyes turned green instead of amber when he released his Drigger, but frankly he hadn't had the time to check in a mirror.  
  
"Tala, up there!"  
  
He yanked his head upwards, and Tala's snow gaze traversed upwards to Kai, held fast in the animal's grip. Rei noticed Tala's beautiful eyes widen, and he sprang towards Sara.  
  
"ARROWS! Sara, get take it down!"  
  
From across the ruined garden, Sara heard her partner's call, and looked to the heavens.  
  
"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed in frenzy, raising her bow, doubtful about the range of her shots but determined to try nevertheless. She aimed three arrows at once, knowing that speed was of the essence, and then, in almost complete synchronisation with Tala's, she launched, watching the arrows fly through the air at a dazzling pace, flitting through the heavy mist as though it were nothing at all and ram into the mighty dragon.  
  
They had no effect.  
  
"AGAIN!" cried Rei, determined to save his friend.  
  
~"This isn't happening, it can't be happening. We can't lose Kai."~  
  
Rei watched as more arrows flew through the air.  
  
~ "Come on, bring it down . . ."~  
  
The arrows resounded from its hide, some completely missing the mark. Tala yelled something to Sara that Rei didn't quite hear. He couldn't believe this was happening. If only he'd held on to his friend rather than let go when that thing had knocked into them.  
  
"Come on, guys!"  
  
"We're out of arrows!" yelled Sara angrily, her eyes flashing with worry. Tala shrugged, defeated.  
  
"I'm sorry, Rei, I'm clean out."  
  
Rei glanced at the both of them, and then back to Tyson.  
  
"The beasts? Drigger, Dragoon? Can we do it?"  
  
Tyson grabbed Rei by the wrists. "Look."  
  
Rei glanced upwards, his gaze heavy and unwilling, and watched as the creature began to move away from them, its huge wings swooping and creating a soundless hush throughout the heavy air. Rei watched on, panting for breath, feeling his heart thudding in his chest as his Captain was stolen away from them.  
  
And they could do nothing about it.  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
True to his loyalties, Rei didn't remove his gaze for a second, even as the others began to move, silence descending upon them all as the heavy mist above. Rei felt as though he'd been shot. He hurt all over, and he was incredibly tired, and he felt empty. He had no Captain to obey - and he'd lost one of his best friends. Just like that, whipped away on the wings of the night as though he were worth nothing at all, known to nobody.  
  
~"Why . . ."~  
  
Rei shook his head, his eyes glistening with amber tears and streaking down his blood stained face. He glanced down at his hands, still lathered with Kai's blood, stained all over, tiny holes in the darkening red appearing when his tears dripped onto his palms. Rei restrained more tears, and wiped his face quickly, aware that he looked a mess but not really caring. Ignoring the people around him, he stumbled back into the rear garden of the house, not sure why.  
  
~"He'd never let one of us go like that,"~ he thought sadly, his head spinning. He couldn't hear Tyson calling to him from the front garden. He simply carried on walking, his feet shuffling along the bloodied ground as though it were too much for him to lift his feet. His eyes focused upon nothing and simply dragged.  
  
When his feet came into contact with something on the floor, Rei blinked, and looked down. It was a small, blue object, and, upon closer inspection, Rei picked up the broken blade of Dranzer. It had been crushed in the attack, and was a scattered mess of plastic chips and pieces. Still intact, however, was the tiny bit chip, with its image of its prisoner engraved and still glowing on the outside.  
  
The Dranzer, the mighty, unquenchable phoenix, was still in there. It was still alive.  
  
"Dranzer?" Rei muttered to himself, his black bangs falling into his eyes messily. Thinking for a moment, he moved back into the front garden, where the others were starting to clean up and check for major wounds or injuries.  
  
He sought Tyson out. His friend looked tired, even in the dim light.  
  
"Tyson? Check this out."  
  
Rei caught a quick glimpse of Tyson's tear stained face, and knew he was hurting as much as himself. He had a feeling that they weren't the only ones. The team had lost their leader.  
  
Or had they?  
  
"It's still there, Tys." Rei commented quietly, "Dranzer isn't gone. And that means . . . "  
  
"Don't be dumb, Rei," snapped Tyson, glancing up, and Rei saw how tear stained his eyes were. "You saw what happened. Give it up. He's gone. We don't have a Captain any more. You have to take over."  
  
Rei stared, startled, and shook his head. "I won't take over."  
  
Tyson's eyes widened in annoyance. He'd had a long night - as had they all.  
  
"And why not?"  
  
Rei raised an eyebrow, and closed his hand around the Dranzer bit. "Because our real Captain is still alive. I'm not gonna give up so easily."  
  
Tyson stared in disbelief. "I don't believe I'm hearing this, dude. I know you've just lost a close friend - believe me, I understand - but we have to get on with things, for the sake of the team."  
  
Rei shook his head. "I won't do it. It's mutiny."  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
Rei turned, not interested in this conversation anymore. He wouldn't take part in any act of mutiny. And he knew that Kai was still alive. He could feel it, somehow. He'd learned to trust his feelings, his gut reactions, a long time ago. And somehow, he knew that his Captain, Kai Hiwatari, was not lost. At least not forever.  
  
/And I know you're alive.  
  
And you know I will always try.  
  
I could never care less about  
  
What this world has to offer. If the price is to die,  
  
I'll keep my human spirit alive./  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
Tyson watched Rei walk away, as though lost in a world of his own. This was ridiculous. Tyson would not try to fool himself here. He had faced up to Kai's death, and dealt with it. He wouldn't give in to any wishful thinking of his own - or Rei's - or anyone else's. The important thing now was to keep the team going. Somehow they had to survive. Kai had to be put behind them.  
  
Tyson turned, and looked up to the sky, where he had last seen that image of his Captain, being heartlessly removed from them. And with an upset sort of smile, Tyson noticed that the sun was rising.  
  
**************************************************************************** ***********  
  
Sherby: DONE!  
  
Oily: During the process of writing this chappie, Sherbet Mayhem managed to drop a whole toilet roll down the bog.  
  
Sherby: It was an accident!  
  
Oily: Damned funny accident.  
  
Sherby: I know yeah. Anyways . . .  
  
Review people! I'm so tired, and I have a back cramp, and I have to go and sit in church for like two hours now on the UNCOMFY pews, so please, have pity on me!  
  
Oily: Ha.  
  
Sherby: *gets out computer bashing hammer* REVIEW PEOPLE! Hope you enjoyed it. Lyrics were Blindside, and . . . erm . . . the time is 17:17 on a Sunday. Who said day of rest, eh? Not for me it ain't!  
  
Au revoir!  
  
Oily: C ya! *smiles and waves stupidly*  
  
Sherby: Yeah, what she said! Chocolate if you review! *bribery, eh?* 


	4. Desires

Sherby: Hello everyone! Welcome back to Darkness Falls. Get ready to enjoy chapter four. Yay. *waves flag pathetically*

Kai: What's your problem?

Sherby: Nothing.

Rei: You're so depressed!

Sherby: No I'm not. 

Kai and Rei: *whispering to Oil Pastel* What's her beef?

Oil Pastel: Oh, she just broke up with her ------

Sherby: Say it and die.

Oil Pastel: boy . . . friend . . . Ad . . . am . . . 

Sherby: *unleashes knife* now you pay!

Kai: You're single?

Sherby: Shut it sharky, you're next. 

It's 20:57 pm Monday. Here's chapter 4. Enjoy. 

Oily: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Sherby: You're not helping . . . 

Er . . . just to say, if you're put off by . . . well, not sex, but quite graphic descriptions of . . . er . . . intimacy . . . then beware. High detail later. You'll understand if you read it! I apologise now if I offend anyone . . . 

* * *

Chapter Four: Desire . . . 

It was a beautiful view. The charred trees and burned soil was much more appealing to Lindsay than the cities' torn down towers had ever been. She and the rest of the group stood on the top of a high hill, watching the field below them. It was littered with deep brown tree stumps and clusters of moribund grass, attempting feebly to acquire some height and climb towards the ever-darkening sky. The field stretched for a good while. It was very open and there was barely any cover whatsoever – a solitary oak tree stood as the single survivor of this war at the far left of the expanse. Mostly there was soil, deep black, charcoal now, infertile and lifeless. The cloudy sky above the team watched as they began to make their weary ways down the hill. 

The team had been on the move for three days now. Exhausted and broken, they had abandoned Tyson's dojo quickly, deeming it completely unsafe. Tala had advised a swift exit from the cities in general – an open expanse of space would be far more secure; the reason being that the beasts would be far less likely to search for surviving humans in the more open places. And so they had ran, as fast as their tired legs would allow them, without stopping for sleep or rest. Luckily enough, they had lost no more of the team. There had been no more encounters with the beasts, and although they had been tracked on more than one occasion by the looming threat of the cannibals, there had never been any full confrontation, and the group had arrived – safe but incredibly tired, in the open expanse of the country. 

Lindsay attempted once again to ignore that tired pain in her legs, the manic throbbing in her feet becoming almost unbearable. Tala was ruthless as a leader – he allowed for few rests. They hadn't eaten in ages – their only drinks had been from puddles in the road when Tala wasn't looking. He almost seemed like some sort of robot – able to travel without drink or replenishment for hours – days – on end. 

Lindsay glanced to her right through her dull eyes, attempting to see past a lock of scraggly, curly, messy hair, dirty and greasy and unwashed in ages. She didn't want to imagine what she looked like. But nobody else had the time to brush their hair or clean their teeth. They all smelled appalling. No one was looking their best. 

Upon catching sight of Sara traipsing downhill next to her, Lindsay managed a small smile. Sara and she had become firm friends during their three-day hike. It was odd – Lindsay had thought she would never be able to get along with someone who was as blatantly irritating as Sara was. But she did. 

"Y'alright, Linz?" Sara said, sounding out of breath. She looked terrible. Mud was still splattered all over her face from previous battles, and, strangely enough, she had been wearing mascara recently, and it had run down her face in clumps and globules. Lindsay smiled. 

"I don't know where you got that mascara from, Sar, but if I were you I'd wash it off."

Sara's eyes widened. "What? Has my make up run?"

Lindsay laughed now, somehow finding the energy. "Just a tad . . . "

Sara began frantically rubbing her face, only managing to smear the makeup even more. 

"Have you got a mirror, Linz?"

"Er . . . no."

Sara sighed. This was terrible. She looked a mess. Throughout this whole experience, she had prided herself on still managing to look good, despite the battles, raging famines, three day hikes and so on. Her mascara was like her best friend. How could it let her down like this?

"Cheap trash!" she cursed as she threw the tiny bottle of mascara away with a grunt. "I don't need you."

Lindsay watched for a moment, and then smiled as her predictions were proved correct. A moment after walking away from the bottle, Sara turned and scampered back to it, picking it up lovingly. 

"I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry. . . "

Watching the two laughing girls, trailing behind the group, Rei sighed. He was wearier than he liked to let on. Slung across his shoulder was the limp form of Ozuma, his breathing hoarse and his eyes firmly closed. He hadn't woken up yet. Rei knew that if he only had to carry his own weight, he would have been fine on this journey. But Ozuma's compact form, as light as it was, added a great burden to Rei's shoulders, which were heavy already. 

He had barely spoken since the attack on Tyson's old dojo. He'd simply walked behind the group, lost mostly in his own thoughts, allowing Tala to take the lead of the group instead of himself and just tagging along for survival's sake. His thoughts and questions were taking over him, and he was paying less and less attention to what was happening around him. His dirty hair hung into his eyes, blocking them from anyone else's view as he stumbled along wearily, not quite sure why he continued to stumble. 

"Rei? Do you need any help with that?"

Rei didn't bother to look up at Tyson as he was spoken to. Tyson and Max, he knew, were both carrying Lee over their shoulders. Lee was slowly becoming more and more able, and at one point he'd even walked a little of the way himself. His wound was closing over and healing slowly, and soon he would be able to help the team as much as he used to be able to. 

"I'm fine, thank you," muttered Rei, his head down. Tyson, filthy and dirty as the rest of them, watched with worried grey eyes. He hated to see Rei like this. The rest of the team had dealt with the loss of their Captain and moved on successfully. Of course, they were all sorry – but they knew survival was more important. Kai wouldn't have wanted them to mourn him, not while their lives were still in danger. They were all sure of that. Why couldn't Rei just join them in their certainty and move on? Every rest now, in the brief periods of time where the relentless Tala would allow them to catch their breath, Tyson would catch sight of Rei looking at the Dranzer blade, lost in thought. It was the wrong attitude to have, and it was going to drag Rei down. 

"Are you sure, Rei? I can help carry Ozuma too."

Rei glanced up finally, his golden eyes (looking more bronze these days) scanning about himself. Sara was holding out a hand, and behind her stood Lindsay, also looking like she was willing to help. He sighed. He didn't want their pity. For some reason, he just wanted someone – anyone – to agree with him, and believe him when he said that Kai was _still alive_.

"I'm _fine_," he insisted through gritted teeth, angry at something that he couldn't place. Sara backed away instinctively, not so much hurt as annoyed. All she wanted to do was help Rei – and he obviously needed it. 

~"Look at him, stumbling along without even a purpose. Why won't he just accept it? Why does he have to be so hard on himself? It's like he blames himself or something."~

Sara looked away, suddenly lost in her own thoughts as well. She focused her gaze on the field that they now stood on, its lifeless barren expanse running a chill through her spine, as though her spine itself were the motionless soil, and the wind was trickling along it, searching for some branches to rustle through or someone's face to kiss. The land before her was so dead that she could hardly imagine it ever being prosperous at all. Was this where they were to stay?

She ran to the front of the group and caught up with Tala, who was striding ahead confidently, already testing out this new land without fear or caution. He certainly was brave. After Rei's declination of the position of leader, Tala had quickly taken control – whether for himself or for the sake of the others it was not known – and led them to apparent safety. It was true that his alert eyes had kept them safe from harm, but he seemed to care little about the welfare of the group. If he was not thirsty, then the others weren't allowed to be either. He would not let them stop, but marched on almost tyrannically. Sara generally despised leadership of any kind, but she had to admit that at least Kai had been aware of the physical and mental needs of the team. Tala, although he did a better job of keeping the team safe than Kai had done, seemed to omit the team completely as something that needed to be looked after but only saw it as something that propelled his leadership further. 

"Tala?" panted Sara as she jogged up to the red head, whose icy eyes were searching across the sterile land as he walked, "Are we going to set up camp here?"

"Yes."

Sara grabbed his hand and pulled him to a stop. He was a good few metres in front of the rest of the team now. 

"You want to set up here? Why? There's no food, no water . . . "

"It's safe here. They won't come out here."

Sara pulled a face. "Yes . . . but we do need to survive, Tala. We can't survive on the reassurance of being safe. We need food and drink."

"We camp _here_."

Sara's face fell, and she looked Tala in the face. "What do you mean, 'we camp here'? We can't. It'll kill us."

Tala looked away and across the land. There were no rivers, no trees (bar the solitary, dying oak) and no signs of life. 

"We camp here."

Sara frowned, her eyes suddenly glinting, and, as the others caught up, they could plainly hear her frenetic shrill screams as she completely bellowed at Tala. 

"WHAT THE HELL? ER, MISTER 'I'M SO GREAT BECAUSE KAI'S GONE', SINCE WHEN HAS IT BEEN YOUR PLACE TO DECIDE WHERE WE CAMP? I'M VICE CAPTAIN OF THIS TEAM NOW, YOU KNOW, AND I---"

"And I'm Captain. I have authority over you, Sara. Stand down."

Sara's face froze, her mouth open in the middle of another rant. "Wha---what?"

"Stand down. I'm not going to listen to you."

Sara glared, and the dead land about them seemed to become a little more hushed, as if in reverence of this mighty argument. The team watched in shock. Even Rei had looked up to see what was happening. This was ridiculous. 

"Look, guys," began Max, stepping forward, handing Lee over to Tyson, "I don't think that---"

"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE FREAK! ! !" yelled Sara, pointing right at the innocent lad, "Get back where you were, and stay out of this. It doesn't concern you."

"Well, actually, it kind of does," said Tyson, thinking logically (for once in his strange little life).

"Tyson, don't!" hissed Lindsay, clasping a dirty hand over Tyson's grubby face. "She'll eat you alive!"

The rest of the team watched on as Sara and Tala continued to argue, Sara completely mouthing off, with no respect for Tala's authority over her and Tala remaining as cold as his eyes were. He was oddly calm and controlled. With a sigh, Rei turned away, moving back to the slope of the hill, and he sat down heavily, placing Ozuma on the ground behind him. He noticed with a smile that a miniscule tuft of grass was poking its way up through the infertile soil. 

~"There's some life here, at least."~

He lay back for a moment, his hair finally falling out of his eyes as he stared up at the gloomy sky above and wondered why on earth all of this was happening. And it was then, with his bronzing eyes turned up to the dismal sky, that the first drop of rain fell. 

* * *

"Hello? Can . . . you hear me?

Eyes opened, and light flooded in. Pupils constricted dramatically in the sudden glare of the room. Stinging, watering. Barely moving. Flashing in confusion. No sound, just waiting. 

"Can you hear me?"

The voice spun, echoed, repeated itself upon itself, as if being pressed back in and compressed against the grey walls of this room, rolling over and over again, trying to escape but only finding refuge in the ear. 

"Hello?"

It was too much to move, too wasteful. Eyes opened further now, taking in more, the muscles relaxing a little further. Breath came sharply, suddenly, filling the lungs, pushing the painful diaphragm, a cruel blessing. 

"Hellloooo?"

* * *

In a dark grey room, illuminated by a strong artificial light, with no doors but a simple trapdoor in the ceiling for food to be passed through, were two young people. One a young girl, of about sixteen, sat up, her long, frizzy red hair tucked behind her ears by a small silver clip. Dirt covered her pointed face as she opened her small, bow shaped mouth to speak. Everything about her was rather pointed, her ears, her nose, but she didn't look snobbish. 

Upon getting no reply from her partner, she spoke again, her voice resounding throughout the room. No luck. He barely stirred. She could already see the wound, stitched up badly and unprofessionally, with the occasional hint of yellowing infection tinting the edges. It hadn't been covered or cleaned, and the boy was still as dirty as the day he had been brought in. 

Although he didn't stir much, he did move a little, and the young girl, a shoddy name tag hanging close to her breast, scrambled over to him, looking over him cautiously. He'd been here for a good forty hours now – she knew because she'd been stuck in this room a week. Nothing to do, no one to talk to. Well, except this guy, and he hadn't exactly done anything much since being thrown in. 

She glanced over his body for a moment, watching as he moved slightly. He was messed up. Everything he wore – well, his once black trousers and a ragged grey scarf – were saturated in browning blood remnants. His head lay on the cold floor limply, his floppy, silvery bangs of hair hanging loosely across his slowly opening eyes. The scarf, slack about his neck – was completely saturated and only the occasional dash of faded cream could be seen amongst the thick patches of blood. Arms, crumpled by his side, were bare. His shoulders were pale and the left arm contained another gash that had dried and was surrounded by black crust. His whole body was layered with a terrible mixture of sweat and blood, drying little by little as the hours dragged on. His trousers, once new, were merely dilapidated shreds of black material, still clinging around his waist pathetically. His chest, ribs protruding sickly and making her feel a little ill, rose and fell gently as he moved. 

Her own oddly coloured, black eyes met his dizzy chocolate coloured ones, and she smiled. 

"Hi there . . . um . . ." she glanced down at his chest, and then realized that he wore no top, so how could there be a name tag there? She gasped when she saw that the pin badge had merely been thrust through his skin, just above his left nipple. She winced and then looked back up at his face, taking in the odd blue marks scratched into the skin. Almost like tattoos. 

"Hi there Kai."

At the sound of his name, the boy blinked, and looked up at her, his gaze seeming to focus upon her face. She smiled, and he grimaced as he moved to see her properly. 

"Oh, no, don't move. You're hurt!"

He continued to move, despite her warnings, and soon he was on his back, looking straight up at her. She smiled again, this time a little more nervously. 

"How are you feeling, Kai?"

He frowned, his russet eyes shrewdly taking in her features, and he moved his mouth to talk. He frowned even further when no sound came out. 

"Are you surprised?" she said, waving a hand, "You don't wanna see how that thing looks right now."

"The---then why---" his voice scratched out, weak and dry, and barely audible.

The girl gasped, shocked in some sort of melodramatic fashion. "Did you just . . . "

She looked down at him again. If he cleared off all of the blood, and maybe took a bath or three, he'd be very nice to look at. 

~"Good. That makes this a whole lot easier."~ she thought with a cynical sigh. She focused her attention back to Kai. 

"I'm Kate," she said with another smile, pulling forward her own name badge, where the grubby text could hardly be made out. She released it, allowing it to spring back and hang from the light blue baggy T-Shirt she wore. She'd also worn a pair of brown cords, but they'd been ripped to shreds and now the majority of her legs could be seen through the tattered material. 

"I'm---Kai . . . "

Kate shook her head. "How are you speaking? Your throat is trashed." 

Kai shrugged weakly, and slowly began to push himself into a sitting position from the floor, his thin arms quaking under the sudden pressure. Kate noticed how cut up he was. He was covered in old scars and new slits. His elbows protruded from his arms badly – he was far too thin. But then again, she was thin herself. Days – no, weeks – of malnutrition had worn her own body down. She knew that her own ribs could be seen painfully, silhouetted against her pale skin. She was shadow of her former self and she knew it. Was this true of Kai too?

Once he reached a sitting position, Kai groaned again, and put a hand to his throat. It looked incredibly painful. He touched it gingerly, swallowing once or twice to make sure he still could. Kate watched, resisting the urge to look away as tiny bubbles of scarlet protruded from some of the stitches. He winced, quickly wiping the fresh blood away with his already bloodied hands. It seemed pointless, as the wound continued to bleed. 

"Damn," he commented quietly, not seeming to pay much attention to Kate. She looked away as he grit his teeth and pinched the edges of the wound, not hard enough to pull out the shoddy stitching but enough to squeeze any yellow infection out. His face paled but he continued, knowing that it had to come out. Kate's hand flew to her own throat, and she closed her eyes, not wishing to see the sticky liquid trickle down his throat. 

When Kai was happy that clean blood was emerging rather than the traces of infection, he stopped, resting his head in his hands for a moment, as he was dizzier than before. He had no idea where he was, or who he was with, or why he was here. Everything was one huge mess. He could barely remember what had separated him from his friends. 

He blinked, and looked back up at the girl. She could probably fill him in on some things, if not be more useful if used correctly. 

"Um . . . Kate?" he stopped. His throat felt like it was on fire, burning maliciously at every word he formed. This was going to be more difficult than he had intended. 

"Yes, Kai?" she turned, and he was hit by how odd her eyes were. The irises were black, as well as the pupils, and they looked almost devoid of emotion, of life. He tried not to let this faze him and continued. 

"Where are we?"

Kate stood, stretching her long limbs. She was quite tall – possibly taller than he was. She cricked her neck and clicked her fingers before looking down and answering. 

"We're in a compound."

"What?"

"A compound. The only one, as far as I've figured out."

"Who runs it? People?"

"One person. Mostly beasts."

Kai's eyes narrowed, his heart beginning to beat a little faster. "One person runs this?"

"Yes. He's backed up by---"

"He?"

Kate placed her hands on her hips, looking irritated with his sudden interruptions. "Yes, all right? He."

"Who? What's 'his' name?"

She watched him for a second. He was below her, and she felt more powerful than he was, but something in how he spoke, despite the rasping, scratchy sound, commanded her respect, and she complied. 

"His name is Boris."

* * *

Lindsay sighed, and watched a runlet of water channel down her pointy nose. Her curly hair was plastered to her frame, and her glasses were practically impenetrable because of the water splattered all over them. Tala and Sara had continued to argue for a good while, and then, when the rain had gotten very heavy, they had all looked for somewhere to shelter until the best of the fall had passed. Unfortunately, there had been none. Max had suggested that they take shelter under the nearby oak tree, but not all of them could fit under. The girls had been given first place, and finally it had ended up with Tala and Rei being the ones who had to stay out. Sara had quickly decided that Rei needed a good rest, as he wasn't doing so well, and so she had gone out into the rain with Tala. Everyone had expected another argument, but she'd merely started washing her hair. It was bizarre. 

"I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair!" Sara sang merrily, enjoying the fact that she was soaked through. Tyson called out to her. 

"Um . . . Sara? Do you realize that you're wearing a white top?"

Sara paused, her hair draped over her head and dripping wet. "What?"

Lindsay burst into laughter as she realized Sara's white T-Shirt had gone completely transparent. 

"CRAP!" cried Sara, crossing her arms so no one could see anything. "Well at least I'm clean!"

The whole congregation chuckled at Sara's doziness. 

"Nice show," came a voice, and Lindsay turned around to see that Ozuma had woken up. 

"OZUMA!" she cried, although she didn't actually know who he was. Max and Tyson jumped over and grinned cheesily at the weak lad. 

"Hey Ozuma!" "Nice to have you back!"

Even Rei was moved enough to come over and say hello. After all, it was Rei who'd carried Ozuma most of the way. 

"Rei, how you doin'?" asked Ozuma quietly, his emerald green eyes pleasantly bright in the dullness of the storm. Rei smiled faintly. 

"Not bad."

"I'm glad I found you guys," Ozuma said, moving a little to a more comfortable position. "I'd be a goner for sure if you hadn't found me. When you came towards me all armed the way you three did, then I just thought 'this is it' and everything disappeared."

He laughed a little, before touching his head, fingering the cloth wrapped around it. "Hey, I'm wearing somebody's . . . shirt?"

"Yeah, that'd be mine," came a female voice, and Ozuma looked up to see a pretty young thing, cleaner than the others, standing nearby, with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "Glad you're awake, Ozzy."

Although he could spend hours pondering over why the hell this girl had just called him Ozzy, Ozuma decided not to. He merely laughed at the predicament she was in. 

"I think you should take it back," he smiled, beginning to gently unwrap the shirt from about his black, spiked hair. 

"Nah, I don't wear stuff that's been bloodied," the girl remarked, turning her nose up a little before leaping back out into the rain and rinsing her hair through again. Ozuma watched in wonderment. 

"Who the heck is she?" he asked Rei, and Rei smiled. "She is Sara. Vice Captain."

"Seriously? Why?"

Rei laughed. He was feeling strangely more lighthearted. Having another friend to talk to made things easier for him. 

"And I'm Captain," boomed Tala's authoritative voice, and Ozuma leaned over to look at him. He had quietly stalked underneath the tree to dry off a little for just a moment.

"You . . . you are? But . . . I thought K---"

"Well, it doesn't matter what you thought," snapped Tala, his iced eyes flashing, "I'm in charge. Do as I say and you'll stay safe."

Tala marched away, back out into the rain, the drippings running down his body in a menacing fashion, but he didn't shiver a single bit. It was odd. He could face any element without even a twinge of fear. 

"Well," spoke Ozuma quietly, watching Tala yell something to the prancing Sara, "What's going on? I thought Kai was team Captain here."

He looked from Rei's face, to Tyson's, to Max's, and to the other girl who was looking down at him. 

"Don't tell me . . . "

* * *

Kate sat down, and sighed. She should probably break this silence. 

"I'm sorry . . . I didn't know that you knew him . . . "

This mysterious boy had spoken to Kate for a good ten minutes as best he could, filling her in on what he knew of Boris Balkov. She'd suspected he was a con, or a criminal, but she hadn't guessed he'd been such a villain in the past. She'd listened with wide eyes to tales of Boris' cruelty in the Abbey, his dealings with the young lads that had lived there, and his rather unorthodox punishments. 

"Did he ever . . . punish you, Kai?" she said quietly, looking over at the pale boy. He glanced over at her. 

"Yes. Sometimes. The thing with Boris is, no matter how much you try, you can't leave him behind. He'll always follow. Why'd he come after me?"

Kate froze. "Oh . . . I think I can answer that. You see . . . " she broke off, blushing, strangely enough. Kai narrowed his gaze. 

"What's going on?"

Kate stood again. It was the third of fourth time she'd stood in the last conversation. Kai knew then and there that she was extremely nervous – or jittery about something. 

"You see, Kai . . . Boris wants to restart. He's running on a Nihilist theory."

"Nihilist? I thought that the Nihilists were a political party." Kai intervened.  

"Well, they are, but Nihilism is the theory that backs them. Nihilists believe in---"

"Nothingism?"

Kate stopped short, and stared at Kai for a moment. "Um . . . yeah, that's about the most accurate translation I've ever heard. They want to get rid of everything the way it is, and then start again, but start better. Learn from old mistakes. Makes the second round the perfect round. "

"That's dumb. So Boris wants to start again? Which is why he destroyed the majority of the human population, right?"

"We don't know how many people in other countries have survived. All we know is the carnage we're faced with. I'm diverting. Boris wiped out the weaker race here."

"So why'd he bring me here? And you? Why're you here?"

Kate paused for a moment, and cleared her throat, looking down at the floor again. Kai noticed that she had an odd look about her. She was pretty in a strange way. Her hair complimented her weird eyes, and the freckles across her nose seemed like an asset to her face. If she cleaned up a little (not that she was particularly filthy) she would be quite stunning. 

"We're here to . . . to start again. For Boris."

Kai cocked his head to the side, and winced as his throat pulled. Kate glanced at him with her empty gaze, and then continued. 

"Apparently we're the best left. And we're here to start the new breed."

He couldn't help but widen his eyes, and Kai raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Um . . . right . . . why us?"

"Because we're at the 'peak of physical condition'. We're the perfect couple to . . . to . . . create this new generation . . .  according to him."

She spat the last words with some bitterness. Kai didn't know how long she'd been there. Obviously she just wanted to get out – and she figured the best way to do that was to comply with Boris' sick orders. 

"Look, Kate," said Kai, gently rubbing his neck and trying not to break the stitching. "I know you want to get out. I want the same thing. But . . . we can do it without giving in to Boris. See?"

He looked away for a second, feeling extremely awkward, and when he looked back, he was surprised to see that Kate was crying, silver tears slipping from those emotionless eyes and proving the colour black wrong. The tears channeled down her face, freer than the two prisoners were by far, free to flow whichever way they wanted, free to choose how they fell, free completely. Unlike them. They made tiny river marks along her pointed face, and dripped from her chin to the dirty floor below, leaving wretched splash marks where they collided with the ground. 

"Hey, what. . . ?"

Kai didn't know what to do. Why was she crying? Had he said something wrong? He hadn't meant to upset her. 

"What's wrong, Kate?"

"What do you think is wrong?" she sniffed, sinking to the floor and sitting cross legged, leaning her chin into her clasped hands like a small child would, "I want to leave here. I hate this. And you obviously hate me!"

Kai raised yet another eyebrow. "Um . . . why do I hate you again?"

"Well you didn't look too pleased about the idea of . . . you know . . . with me . . . "

Kai rolled his eyes discreetly. This was irritating. He had more important things on his plate than a weeping woman who was upset because he didn't want to make love to her. Honestly. 

"Kate, I'm not . . .un-attracted to you, if that's what you're crying over. But I'm not really attracted to you either. . . "

Kate sobbed some more, and Kai covered his face with his hand. He was too tired for this. He generally just wanted to sleep, get a drink, and then escape. 

"Look, Kate---"

"No, you look, Mister!" she snapped, suddenly breaking out of sobbing damsel-in-distress mode, "We do it, we have a kid, I get special treatment, you get special treatment, we're all one happy big family! What's the problem?"

Kai stared at her, his face a complete mixture of disbelief and shock. "Did you just really say that? Kate, why do you think Boris is creating this 'race'? Do you think he wants them to run free over the hillside and sing kum-bye-ah all day long? Wrong! He wants to enslave us! Don't you see that? He's evil, Kate; he's purely sadistic. He'll make us – and our 'child' - work for the beasts or something! He's not the good guy here!"

Kate watched his face as he spoke, taking in his every feature. When he finished speaking, she stood, moving over to where he sat. 

"You know, Kai . . . you're really . . . attractive when you get angry . . . "

Kai blinked, and looked at Kate's face, his own face bewildered and almost ever so slightly amused. 

"You should quit that right now."

"But you are!" she insisted, moving a little closer, her eyes fixed suddenly upon his chest, "And all of this blood makes you look so . . . "

"Stop it," Kai said quickly, inching away. He didn't want to hurt this girl's feelings, but this was getting a little out of hand. 

"Kai . . . just give in . . . kiss me . . . "

Kai was about to speak and move away, when she pressed herself completely onto him, locking her lips on his own. Worse than the fact that he really didn't want to do this was the fierce flashing pain that suddenly ran up from his throat and into his head. He tried to pull away smoothly, but she was holding him tightly, her arms suddenly wedged around his back. 

"Kate---" he managed in between kisses, "Stop . . . "

She clambered onto him, her whole body pulsating with feverish excitement, and Kai struggled to move away. Unfortunately for him he'd just woken up after being out cold for three days, and he wasn't in the best physical condition. His body was weak and malnourished, and he couldn't pull away. Her kisses moved down past his wounded neck and onto his chest, and he gasped in a quick mouthful of air. She was definitely intent on having her own way. 

"Stop, Kate, now. This isn't right!"

She didn't seem to pay attention, and she kissed his chest lightly, the gentle graze of her bottom teeth tickling him in a manic way. He pulled himself away and she reached out with desperate hands, grabbing onto the skin on his chest. Her fingers found the nametag in his chest and she pulled on it, wrenching him towards her again. Kai's eyes widened in pain as she slashed the tag out of his chest and grabbed him about the back. 

"What the hell . . . "

"Hope not for mind in women . . . " she hissed, suddenly a different creature altogether, controlling, powerful, cruel, "at their best, sweetness and wit . . . "

"They are but mummy, possessed," Kai finished the famous poem quickly with a snarl, "Get off me."

Her face darkened, and those black eyes seemed to dissolve into something more sinister, less clear, and completely intent. Kai watched her for a moment, his nose wrinkled in scorn for this creature, who seemed fit to live with the beasts themselves all of a sudden, and then she clambered off him, letting go of his back and allowing him to slip backwards to the floor. He lay still for a moment, retrieving lost breath that she had stolen from him, and then he looked over at her, the cold touch of the floor mingling with the warmth of his back. 

He didn't get much of a good look of her. She was suddenly atop him again, her legs spread seductively as she began to remove her T-Shirt. 

"Kate, get off!" he protested firmly again, attempting to roll her off. She stayed firm, this time using her nails to scratch into his skin, her hot hands framing his face. She lowered her body to his own, moving with supple, writhe actions and rippling her form as she laid on top him. 

"Kate!" he hissed, rolling onto his side to throw her off. This had gone far enough. But her hands were stronger than he had expected, and she clung to him, merely rolling him so he now lay on top of her. 

"I thought you didn't want this, Kai?" she smirked. Now in an easier position (although not in the sexual way) Kai moved away, knowing he could just stand up and be rid of this demon. She gripped his hair, pulling his face down to hers, and she rolled again, in complete control of this situation much to Kai's distaste. 

"You're not going anywhere until we're done."

Kai pulled away once more, refusing to give into this whore, when suddenly, as he attempted to breathe again, he found that he couldn't. Another hot flare of pain ran through his neck, and he winced, wondering what was happening. He glanced up, and saw her outstretched arms clawing towards his throat, and he realized with a start that she was clenching her witch's hands around his wound. He could feel it bleeding once again, and the stitches were pulling so much that he wondered if they would split. He choked for a moment, finding breath suddenly torn away as quickly as his freedom was. 

~"STOP!"~ his mind screamed, his senses reeling. His body was out of his control now, as his vision began to blur due to the pressure on his neck. Was she choking him? He couldn't see her properly, just those arms – in fact, just one arm . . . 

He tried to pull away again as he felt her claws tear his trousers from his slim waist, letting them slip to the floor. Her free hand slipped below his waist, and he pulled away harder, but the pressure upon his neck was too much and he couldn't keep pulling away if he wanted those stitches to stay in. He winced as he felt blood trickling down his chest; unsure of whether it came from his chest or his throat. His eyes widened once again as he felt her hand tighten, and he felt his chest bucking for air. His whole body was tensing up. Her free hand caressed him and he felt himself stiffening under her touch. 

Suddenly, he felt her kisses stretching up his chest again, pressing into his torso viciously, lustily, her hot tongue tracing his every fibre. Her face then swam into his blurred vision, a look of distinct pleasure spreading across her features. She pressed herself into him forcibly, her whole body swaying as if this were some sort of ritual for her, and he could feel himself moving with her, although it went against every one of his emotions and morals. She laughed quietly, her eyes rolling back into her head in sheer bliss. For a tiny moment, she released her hold upon his neck, and Kai wrenched his head away, gasping for sweet air, allowing it to impregnate him, to flow within his lungs and breathe into him again. As quickly as it had come it was gone, as her hand wrapped about his neck again, not so tightly this time, but tight enough to stop him struggling against her. He turned his focus back to her, wondering what she was doing, and he felt the rough taste of her tongue running up his chest, removing the blood from his stained body. Her mouth met his own again and she kissed him savagely, her primeval instinct overpowering his weak struggles. His vision was blurring once more, and all he could see where those black eyes of hers, impassive, detached, cold, and dead. 

And then it was over, all of a sudden, and Kai felt his entire body relaxing as she removed her hand from his neck and herself from atop him. He lay still, his weak body recovering, and he gasped in mouthfuls of air quietly, closing his eyes for a few seconds. Had that just happened? The cold sweat across his form told him it had. Blood tickled down the side of his neck and he wiped it away with shaking hands. 

"Well," came her voice, monotone, "I must say thank you, Kai. For more than one thing."

Kai looked over at her, his vision recovering, but then looked away when he saw her naked body, shining robotically, almost like plastic in the synthetic light of the room. He couldn't find the strength to say anything now. He just wanted to rest. He was exhausted, not just because of Kate's sudden attack, but because of his condition, his ordeal though the past week. And sleep crept upon him as suddenly as Kate's assault had, taking hold of him stealthily and wrapping itself around him with an unstoppable force, caressing his every sense and forcing him to enter in. 

_/__ Took a long time to build these walls around me._

_Yet in a heartbeat you'd torn them down completely._

_I let you in with good intentions!_

But soon you'd stolen what I should have given! So I surrender to you. I surrender./ 

* * *

"Well," said Ozuma, stretching his arms and testing their strength, "Kai or no Kai, this group's sure moved on. But I gotta ask, where do you guys plan on camping? Here?"

Lindsay nodded, watching Ozuma's features through her rain dappled spectacles. "Tala says we've got to."

"That's dumb."

"I know!" said Sara, who had recently moved in out of the rain. "I mean, there's no food, no water . . . well, except the rain, and no proper shelter!"

"Not just that," said Ozuma, his eyes darkening, their green glint becoming a little more ominous. "This place isn't as safe as you guys think it is. I know 'cause I've been here."

"What?" cried Tyson, clambering over from talking to Max under one of the larger branches of the aging oak. 

"I wandered across here weeks ago. Funny how I ended up here again. But the last time, I barely made it out of here alive . . . "

All who sat under the tree were enraptured by Ozuma's powerful, yet strangely calming voice. He sat up, leaning against the tree trunk, a deep red slash of hair falling into his eyes. 

"How d'you think I got these wounds? The beasts?"

There was a silence. No one dared to answer. Ozuma continued. 

"No, it wasn't the beasts. It was them. The cannibals. These open expanses are their resting grounds. And when night falls, they'll come out in full force."

* * *

As the sun began to set behind him, the tall figure of Boris Balkov stepped away from a small monitoring screen. He looked very pleased with himself, and a satisfied smirk tinged his lips. Upon the screen, a young, pretty redhead gave him a thumbs up, her naked form shimmering beautifully in the light of the room she was in, and Boris smiled at her before turning the screen off. 

Now they only had to wait a few days. Two or three – and then they'd know. But Boris was already sure. He had faith in the boy. The methods the girl had used had been a little unexpected – maybe even a little unprofessional - but Boris had enjoyed watching all the same. Indeed. 

And now? Now he could begin. The girl thought she would merely be giving birth to the first child of his new generation. Oh no. How wrong she was. If she had been successfully used, then he would take her away quickly, and begin the next step. 

He couldn't wait nine months for this baby. He needed it quickly. If he could remove it, he was sure he could speed up the growth of the child one hundred fold, making the wait of nine days a worthy wait. It didn't matter if the mother didn't survive. The child was the more important one now. 

And Kai?

"I think I'll keep him alive a little longer . . . "mused Boris, turning the screen back on again and staring down at the young, sleeping boy, his right hand twitching a little. "Just for fun."

**************************************************************************************   

Sherby: Meep-yans! That was the most disgusting thing I ever wrote. What an odd chapter! Lol! But I enjoyed it, because I know I'll have made you all cringe in so many different places! Sorry if it was a bit much for you. They won't all be this highly . . . gross. Ahem. The song lyrics were by the Chasing Furies, from the track "I surrender". And the poem that Kai and Kate were throwing between each other was something by John Donne (pronounced Dun). It's called "Love's Alchemy" and it's basically about trying to find happiness with a woman is like the search for the 'elixir' of life - (something that scientists used to look for that would make them immortal) – unfulfilled and useless. It ends with how making love to a woman, who at her best is merely 'sweetness and wit', is like making love to a corpse – or a 'mummy – possessed', as Donne puts it. It's a very good poem, despite the fact that it's in old English (for example 'bubble' is spelled 'Buble'). So thanks to Donne. I also took inspiration from "A child called It" in this chapter, the book by Dave Pelzer, and I do recommend it, because it is amazing and you'll all cry at it. 

I like the chapter title. Thanks to Oil Pastel for that one, because I came up with it randomly and then she convinced me to use it. I think that's how it happened anyway. There's a lot of desire in this chapter, from Tala's desire for power, to Rei's desire for understanding and fellowship, to Sara's desire for cleanliness, from Boris' perverse sexual desires and his odd Hitler-ish desire to become a Nihilist (although I don't think Hitler was a Nihilist), to Kai's desire to defeat Boris and to escape, and Kate's desire for freedom, plus the whole sexual desire thing with her. 

Anyways, hope you liked. I know I did. I liked a lot . . . it's good to torture Kai in new, authentic ways. 

Oily: Sadistic old . . . 

Sherby: And it took my mind off Adam, my boyfriend. 

Oily: I think you mean ex boyfriend. 

Sherby: *cries* That was uncalled for! *runs off and cries in corner*

Oily: *looks around and realizes that people are watching her* What? It's not my fault she's like this! And all she'd say right now is something along the lines of "Review, review, and I love you all!" coz she's irritating. So . . . do like she says. Review. Make her happy. She needs love right now 'cause . . . *looks over at Sherby and speaks in loud voice so Sherby can hear very clearly*. . .  ADAM SURE AIN'T GIVIN HER LOVE!

Sherby: WAHHH!!! *sobs*

Oily: *winks* Review. Make her day. The time is 00.26 am. Early for her, eh?

Sorry again about Sherby's use of highly graphic language during the course of this chapter. She won't apologize, but I will. Although a naked Kai is nothing to complain about . . . 

So yeah, review =p  and I'll whip her into starting the next chapter! 

Auf Weidersehn!

Sherby: See ya *cries some more*

Oily: Shut up!

X X X  


	5. The Eye of the Storm

Sherby: *hangs head in shame* Hello, everyone! Um . . . I know this is really late and all . . . I do have reasons though! At the moment I'm in a production of "Les Misèrables" and rehearsals have just moved to Sunday, which used to be my fanfiction writing day. I've also got my final Drama exam performance in less than two weeks, and so I've been staying behind after college a lot. I have a Drama portfolio to complete by then, and I also have a Graphics project due in less than twenty days, which is nowhere near completion. I have three history essays to do, and an English one coming up. I have so much work at the moment that it's difficult to find time for fanfiction. And so things have been a bit screwy. It's now Saturday, and because I'm sad and have nothing else to do (other than all my homework, which I really should get started on . . . ) I'm gonna try and get this chapter done before it gets majorly late. I really am sorry about the lateness. 

Anyways, enough of my excuses. I'll get on with it. A big hello and thank you to '**Russa**' (I don't even know if she's reading), who reviewed War an awful lot and made me feel extremely happy with the following comment: "The best thing for me about this story was how you said 'God bless' at the end of every chapter." Thank you, Russa. No one's ever said anything so touching about my work. Blessings. Er . . . hope you're reading . . . 

Also hello to **Emerald Skies**, who is the coolest Scottish person I have ever met and will ever meet! Lol. What I say about you later in the chapter is true. You'll know what I mean when I get there. Love ya! *muah!* 

Hi to everyone at **TNK**, and thank you for being so supportive recently. You know what I mean. It's wonderful to have people to talk to like you. Your advice has been fantastic and I can't thank you enough. Things are getting better now. 

Hello to **Oil Pastel**, the smelliest person to walk the earth. How'd the waxing go, Oily? (Mwah ha!). I wrote a song about you. It goes "Monsieur don't mock me now I pray!" Lol. At least I can sing it! 

**Vampyre Neko** (hoping that's how you spell it, sorry if that's wrong!) Erm . . . thanks for your helpful comments? I'm still really good friends with Adam, ya know. But I'll tell him anyway! Are you a feminist by any chance? Lol. 

**Sapphy**, hello, and hope you're reading this! Lol! Just thought I'd give you a mention you anime crazy 

munch-kin! Thanks for reading so far! 

Finally, thanks to every single reviewer so far (memory like fish, can't name all), 'cause you all make me smile a lot! Cookies for all *hands them out sadly as she can't eat them because she's on lent. No chocolate, crisps, sweets, cakes, or chips – Waah!)

So, yeah, let's get on with Darkness Falls 5! Hope you enjoy! See you at the end of the chapter!

***************************************************************************************

Chapter Five: The Eye of the Storm.

"Tala, please, consider what you're saying!"

Tala ignored the pulling on his arm and stared ahead into the blackness of the night. The rain was starting to get much more heavy now – too heavy to merely take cover under that single oak tree – and a fierce wind was lashing the stinging pellets of water into the eyes of his team. 

_His_ team. 

They were his. He decided what to do with them. He knew best for them. They _had_ to obey him. So why was he having so much trouble controlling them? They should simply stop protesting and follow his orders. Why should they be allowed to think, when they had one great thinker right here to lead them out of this mess?

"Sara, get off me."

He ripped his arm away from the girl's pleading grasp and stepped away, crossing his arms across his very slim chest and attempting to ignore the lashing rain splicing into his eyes. For once, those pupils weren't the coldest things around. The wind was sub zero. 

"Tala, you're being ridiculous, and you're putting our lives in jeopardy for no reason!" Sara protested quickly, venturing out from the oak tree shelter and grabbing Tala's shoulder. Her hair was sodden and jet with the weight of the heavy rain, and plastered to her head in thick strands. 

"Sara, I'm not going to tell you again. We're not moving."

His voice was so monotonous, so disinterested, that the rest of the team began to protest too. They had been watching Sara and Tala argue for some while now. As the rain had gotten heavier, Tala had gotten more forceful and stern in his argument, and Sara had begun to crumble in her own argument. They were going in circles. 

"See, Tala?" Sara said, watching him with her brown eyes as the rest of the team began to support her stoutly. "The people are speaking. You can't go against what's best for them."

Tala growled, the cries of protest from the team seeming like taunting, jeering jibes, and they hit him harder than the rain did. How he despised them right now. All of them disobeying as though he had _no_ sort of authority over them whatsoever, led by this ringleader, his vice captain, whom he could so easily put down . . . 

Crack.

The whole team fell silent as Tala slapped Sara across the face. Once, twice, three times, brutal red marks spreading across her olive skin in the pathetic light that was left of the day. The third slap threw her to the muddy ground it was so forceful, and she slipped along in the sludge a little way before skidding to a halt and grasping her face with her dirty hands, not looking back up at Tala. 

The team merely stared at Tala, open-mouthed, as he stood there, panting a little in fury, his shoulder looking more imposing than it ever had done in the past. He was not to be messed with. Lindsay crept over to Sara's side in silence, keeping her eyes on the raging leader all the time. 

"Now you listen to me," Tala snapped, his hawk-like features striking fear and obedience into each of them. "I won't stand for your stupid complaints. I'm going to get us out of this, but you have to listen to me. I'm in charge here. You wanna disobey, then you leave. Got that straight?"

Despite their fear, nobody in the team nodded. Tala breathed a little heavier, and his eyes darkened. 

"I won't have disobedience. Do you hear me?"

There was another silence, torn only by the spill of the wind as it knifed its way through each and every one of them. The rain pounded more heavily and the sky suddenly split in two as a mighty fork of lightning ripped through the dark blue of the air, pushing the clouds aside aggressively and fighting through that unnatural haze that lay about them. 

"I think you've gone too far, Tala," came a voice from the back of the tree, and Tala squinted through the rain as the lightning faded away, its ominous echo of thunder remaining as a reminder that it would be back. Rei slipped from around the back of the oak. His eyes were alight in the blackness and they blazed, bright amber now rather than that sunken bronze they had almost become. 

"Rei? You question _me_?"

Rei moved out from under the tree to Sara's side. She hadn't gotten up, but was sitting turned away from her attacker, with Lindsay's arms wrapped around her protectively. Rei couldn't tell if she was crying because of the trickles of rainwater than fell down her face but from her shaky breaths he guessed that she was. 

"Tala, you've gone power crazy. You're not thinking straight," Rei spat as he stood up, the rain running down his own face, dripping into his eyes but never causing him to flinch. He watched Tala through predator's eyes, his back to the team leader and his head turned, face shadowed in his bangs of hair. Tala smirked. 

"What's this? Poor little Rei wants to stand up to me?"

Rei snarled, and his face visibly darkened, and he suddenly looked as though he were completely at home in the savage ferocity of the elements. His muscles tensed, and as quickly as the lightning had come moments ago, Rei launched himself forwards on tiger's light feet and hurled himself straight into the icy form of Tala, knocking the redhead to the floor. The two began brawling savagely, fists slamming into each other and rolling around, primeval grunts emitting from each of them. 

"STOP THIS!" yelled Tyson, darting out to try and separate the pair, who were hurling insults at each other as fast as their fists were flying. Max aided him and attempted to drag Rei off Tala, but to no avail. The two were locked in this bitterly. 

"Guys, please!" yelled Lindsay, who could barely see because of the rain splattered upon her glasses, "This is ridiculous!"

Tala threw Rei off him with a snarl, and quickly leaped onto him, his hand pressing into the Chinese lad's throat. Rei winced as his head was pushed into the muddy ground, and some of the liquid splashed into his fiery eyes. He flailed out with his arms but Tala would not budge. 

"Listen to me, Kon," hissed Tala through gritted teeth, the rainwater dripping stealthily down his face, "You know you can't beat me. Give up now. Don't make me hurt you."

Rei remembered the use of his legs, and booted Tala in the stomach. Tala's eyes widened, their blue flickering for a moment before he rolled off Rei with a cry. Rei yanked himself up, spluttering, wiping the mud from his eyes so he could see his enemy. He could smell him, he could sense him. The rain was no hindrance; it merely drove him further, wilder, and he sprung at Tala again. 

He was caught by Ozuma's restricting arms and halted, and he struggled, noticing that Tyson and Max had restrained Tala. Suddenly, Lee's face swam into his vision. 

"Rei, listen to me! This won't get us anywhere. Violence is _not_ the answer! Okay? Calm down."

Rei breathed heavily, panting like an animal, and still watched Tala through his eyes, narrow slits of effervescent amber now, and then sighed, looking away. Lee was right. It was pointless. Another streak of lightning traversed the sky, and its aftermath of thunder seemed to calm him further, and Ozuma's arms dropped from their position as restraints.

Tala stopped struggling when Rei did, and Tyson and Max let go for fear that they would get their throats ripped out by their 'captain'. He stared at Rei, his frozen pupils piercing the dull darkness. 

Rei spoke first, still breathing heavily to regain his breath. "Kai wouldn't make us stay, Tala. You're no captain compared to him. When he comes back . . . "

"Which he _won't_," snapped Tala bitingly, his shoulders shaking with anger. Rei continued calmly. 

"When Kai comes back, you'll understand how much better he was. Because we'll all be happy again. And it won't be a dictatorship."

Tala's eyes widened in fury, and he moved to attack Rei again, however, Rei turned, his eyes closed and quiet again, and he took his place underneath the oak branches again, sitting placidly and occasionally rubbing his arm where Tala had twisted it painfully. Tala dropped his attack and stalked away from Max and Tyson, his predator features dark and silent in the storm. Max, Tyson, Lee and Ozuma didn't quite know what to do. They merely turned back to Sara, who was now watching, still wrapped in Lindsay's arms. She watched as Tala moved further away, into the middle of the field, his whole body drenched in heavy rainwater, and as he reached a certain spot, Sara heard him let out a tortured cry and looked on as he dropped to his knees in rage. She glanced away, raising a shaking hand to her face; still stinging from the slaps she had received. And the lightning struck again.

***************************************************************************************

Kai sat on his own in the dark room. The lights had been switched off about two hours ago, when Boris had taken Kate from the room. By his count, he'd been in here for about seven or eight hours. Well, he'd been awake for seven or eight hours. According to Kate, he'd been in there but unconscious for about a whole day. He didn't remember much of how he got there. He remembered the garden, Tyson's dojo. He remembered fighting with the beasts. And he remembered Rei and Tyson trying to help him get back inside. Then, it all kind of went fuzzy. The next clear thing he remembered was . . . well . . . 

He hated to think about it. He felt useless, and pathetic, and weak. He knew it wasn't his fault or anything. How he hated her, though. She'd broken him down into the weakest he'd felt, and he couldn't bear it. He had to get out of here. Away from her. Away from Boris. 

He knew Boris had been watching for the whole time. He'd spotted the camera when he'd first woken up with his sharp eyes. Boris was like that. He knew from the Abbey just what Boris was like. 

"Sicko . . . " he muttered to himself, looking down at himself. Tattered trousers hung from his legs, and he could just glance them beneath, bony and thin. His chest, still filthy, was painfully skinny. The last good meal he'd had was . . . 

Okay, so he couldn't remember. He had a lot of gaps in his memory at the moment. They tended to be filled with questions. He was worried about the state of the team. He knew, then and there, that Rei wouldn't have taken over as Captain. It wasn't in him. And so . . . 

_~ "Tala . . ."~_

He feared that Tala had been given authority. He knew enough of Tala's possessive, powerful nature from their time together in Russia that it was dangerous to let Tala take charge. He was an obvious leader, but a less so obvious megalomaniac. 

With a sigh, Kai stood up, stretching his tired legs. He'd eaten about two hours ago – well, a bowl of tasteless soup and half a glass of water had sufficed as a meal. Kate had been given a proper meal – rice and chicken.

"Wonder why?" he said sarcastically, knowing exactly why she was being given special treatment. She was pregnant – with his child nonetheless, and so Boris wouldn't risk her getting sick for the world. She'd probably been taken out to have the child checked upon. 

A shudder ran up his compact frame. How he hated this place. Weird penitentiary like walls and a strange smell haunted the place. He knew he could escape, somehow, but he wasn't sure what awaited him upon breaking from the room. 

"I guess there's no time like the present."

He moved over to the right corner of the room, and looked up. Well disguised in the wall, almost completely hidden from view, was a dark coloured camera. It was painted a slightly different shade of grey than the walls. Boris' cheapness would be Kai's escape. 

He smiled, and leaped up, his long legs giving him a lot of height, and just about grabbed the camera, yanking it from its position in the wall. It fell, still dangling from the original position, still held by long cables of red and yellow. They looked very thin, as though they couldn't hold anything heavy. 

_~"Good thing I haven't eaten properly for a while."~_

Kai smirked, and looked up towards the trapdoor in the centre of the ceiling, a small square with a slight rim around the edges. A ladder had been let down to let Kate out. He wouldn't be so lucky. However . . . 

Kai tested the wires by leaning his weight upon it. They seemed to hold pretty well. With quick agility, Kai clambered up them, and soon was crouching halfway up the wall, his fingers gripping the hole where the camera had been furiously, the knuckles white with the strain he had to use. His bare feet clawed against the painted walls with as much grip as they could, and Kai turned his head quickly, spying the square trapdoor that seemed a lot closer all of a sudden. It was about two and a half metres away. With a determined smile, Kai dangerously swapped the position of his hands for a foothold, and in that split second where he was holding on to nothing at all, he sprung away from the wall, propelling himself with his long legs, and leapt along the room, reaching out for the rim of the trapdoor. He just about made it, and found himself dangling from the ceiling as though it was a giant monkey bar. Unfortunately, the trap door would be difficult to open. He could hold onto the rim for a short while, but it was already hurting his fingers. 

He let go with one hands and started to fiddle with the trap door. It was a simple piece of wood, wedged into a hole in the ceiling, but it was locked in tight, and so it was hard to pull off. 

_~ "Wait a second . . ."~_

Shaking his head at his own stupidity, Kai pushed the square of wood upwards, and it slipped out of its wedge in the ceiling. He laughed for a moment, and then cried out as a huge force of rain slapped into his face. He moved his hand to try and block his face, but managed to lose his grip on the rim of the trapdoor and he fell to the ground painfully, landing on his feet but really thudding into them hard. 

"Ow, crap!"

He crumpled for a moment, grasping his feet in pain. When his feet stopped throbbing as much, he stood, shakily, rubbing his neck, which had become a habit. With a sigh, he looked back towards the wires. 

_~ "Here we go again . . ."~_

***************************************************************************************

Lindsay sighed. She was _so_ hungry. Her stomach kept on growling and growling. It had been a good while since the group had eaten. They didn't want to turn into cannibals, and so they would have to find food soon!

"Rei," she whispered to the silent boy, who hadn't moved since the fight two hours ago. He simply watched the blackness sadly, his eyes lost in something Lindsay couldn't guess. She repeated his name, and he blinked, looking around slowly to face her. He smiled. 

"Hey, Linz."

Lindsay smiled back. "Hey. Um . . . I don't mean to interrupt, but we need food. We can't survive on water and empty stomachs."

Rei nodded. "Well, where do you suggest we go? I know this place is meant to be inhabited with cannibals, but it seems safe. The only place that I can think of to look for food is back in the city. And it's dark."

Lindsay nodded. "I know. It's dangerous, but, well, we need food."

Rei turned and looked back over at the silhouette of the city. Despite the darkness, he could see the plumes of smoke rising from the charred remnants of civilisation. 

"What do you suggest, Linz?"

Lindsay sighed, and looked over at Sara, who was sitting alone, sharpening her arrows with a small, rather blunt looking stone and glaring at those who spoke to her. She looked up dangerously as Lindsay approached, and Lindsay noticed with a wince that one of Sara's eyes was painfully swollen and starting to bruise from Tala's cruel attack earlier. 

"What, Lindsay?"

Lindsay swallowed, and brushed a piece of hair out of her glasses. They kept on slipping down her nose, irritatingly, because she was so wet. 

"Well, Sar, seeing as we haven't eaten anything, do you fancy a trip back into the city? Just me, you and Rei?"

Sara looked up, a smile crossing her features and her eyes glinting naughtily. "Oh yes. That'll put Mr Slap-a-lot in his place!"

She jumped to her feet enthusiastically, her meekness from earlier disappearing. Rei watched her with a smile, and, at Lindsay's glance, stood himself, and issued Sara to grab some more arrows. She was already way ahead of him. It wouldn't take them long to get back into the edges of the city. The journey here had only taken three days because the city was huge. It had taken ages to cross it. It would only take a few hours to get back into the outskirts. 

"Let's go, then," said Lindsay with a grin. The three of them stepped out from the tree branches, allowing the chilling rain to suddenly attack them with its animal-like ferocity. They slipped through the darkness, as though it were a blanket for them to simply pass through, ignoring the cries from their 'leader' as he demanded them to return. They left the team behind them for the moment and headed off into the night. 

***************************************************************************************

Kai clambered out of trapdoor finally, wincing at the thrash of rain upon his wounds. It certainly was stormy out here. He'd had no idea. The cold wind cut into his naked upper half bitterly, and he hugged his arms about himself. The tatters of his creamy scarf billowed in the air, and he looked about with his russet eyes. 

He could only see two other buildings around himself, apart from the one he'd clambered out of moments ago. They were grey in the darkness, tall, one only being a small, office type building, and the other being much bigger than both the office room and the one he'd been confined in. 

A huge fence, metal and about ten feet high, surrounded the whole block of three buildings. Kai grimaced at its height. That would be more difficult to scale. At the top was a ridge of barbed wire, curling and glinting in the occasional flashes of lightning. 

More importantly, Kai glanced about for beasts. He knew there would be quite a few of them, and, weapon-less, he had to stay on his guard. He knew he could always take cover in the room he'd just escaped from, but he didn't want to resort to hiding. He wanted out. 

He smelled the air for a moment, trained in this sort of thing, and swung his head left at the scent of meat. Raw flesh had a particular fragrance. So now he knew that there were beasts around the left corner of the room he'd been in. So he'd have to go right. Which meant he would have to go right, past the largest of the three buildings. 

He started off, his feet making no noise on the muddy ground, and slinking along the walls of the tall grey mass of building. He reached a window, and quickly checked inside for any sign of life. He could see the lights were on inside, as the light was reflecting through the glass and showing bright in the darkness around him. 

Lightning cracked again, and Kai quickly glanced into the window. And gasped. 

Inside was a small operating table, dark grey shiny metal in colour. A synthetic glare of light reflected from it. And laying upon it, completely naked, lay Kate, her arms restrained and her lower abdomen covered in small, pen like markings. She was wide awake, and looking around with wild black eyes, her hair bedraggled and looking like she'd been struggling. Next to the operating table was a small tray, full of glimmering operating machinery, scissors and knives, glinting with a fierce reality that Kai hated to see. It reminded him too much of the abbey. Especially the tall figure in the white lab coat that turned to the operating table, a scalpel shining menacingly in his hands. 

"Boris . . . " hissed Kai very quietly, aware that the beasts weren't too far away. He watched on through frightened eyes as Boris began to cut Kate's belly along the lines he'd marked out, like some sort of plastic surgery. He couldn't hear her, but he could see Kate screaming and struggling, attempting to get off the table but being restrained by the metal cuffs. 

Kai swallowed as Boris threw the scalpel aside, having slit a huge gash across Kate's lower stomach. He relinquished a long, thick needle, and inserted it into the gash. Kai winced. Why did he have to cut her open? A needle would have worked either way. 

_~ "Oh yeah. This is Boris we're talking about."~_

Kai watched as Kate writhed, throwing her head back in agony, her legs kicking wildly, her fists clenched in expressions of torture, and Kai couldn't watch on as Boris removed the embryo from the young girl. He didn't want to know what Boris was playing at. But he knew he had to get Kate out. He was pretty sure she was sorry for what she'd done to him earlier – well, she was now. That's if she could even think clearly. 

Ignoring the knowledge that the beasts would come running at his next actions, Kai slammed his bony elbow through the glass of the window. It was double glazed, but he thrust it through hard and shattered a good portion of the glass. He continued to smash it up, until there was enough room for himself to drag himself inside, ignoring once more the painful glass shards as they dragged along his bare torso. He slipped into the room quickly, so he could face Boris. 

And realised he had absolutely no idea how to get Kate out of there. Boris, who had plenty of weapons, faced him and he had no idea how to release the straps from Kate's body, Plus, the beasts would be on the prowl now. 

"What are you doing, Boris?" Kai growled, covering up his hesitancy with a quick snap at his former trainer. Boris looked at him curiously, the needle still in his hands. 

"Well, Kai, I just removed your child from her body."

"I can see that!" snapped Kai angrily, looking down for a second at the bleeding, semiconscious girl. Boris laughed. 

"Patience, young Kai. This child will grow up to be more powerful than you can imagine. More powerful than you, Kai. More powerful than me!"

Kai scowled at the evil man. "Yeah, sure. So let Kate go."

Boris raised an eyebrow, and the lightning cracked outside once more. The room lit up, and Kai resisted the urge to cry out at Boris' bright red eyes. 

"Fine, Hiwatari. Take her."

With a frown, Kai watched as Boris released the straps that held the girl in place. "Wha . . . what?"

Kate's legs immediately curled up to her belly and she cried out in pain as blood surged from her wound. Boris raised his hands in a suggestive gesture as the lightning died down outside. 

"Run, Kai. Run as fast as you can. Let's see how far you get."

Kai backed away instinctively, this conversation sounding frighteningly familiar to one he'd had with Boris when he was very young. He didn't want to remember those times. Swallowing dryly, and tensing his muscles for an attack from Boris, Kai moved to the table and picked up Kate in his arms, finding that she was luckily light. Blood spilt onto his chest and he glanced back up at Boris, who watched the limp girl in Kai's arms a little jealously. 

"Well? _Run_."

Kai took one more look at Boris, knowing he was falling for some sort of trap but accepting this as the only way he could even try to escape with Kate, and then moved for the door, leading him out into a dark corridor (not before grabbing one of the scalpels from the operating table). He glanced behind him at Boris before he pulled the door shut tightly, shuddering at Boris' look of longing towards the crying Kate. 

He turned into the corridor and made his way down it quickly, still puzzled over how easy that was, and found the front exit of the building. He pushed it open warily, knowing that the beasts would be on full patrol since he'd broken the glass so sharply. He could feel the blood trickling from his elbow, and it was rather more painful than he'd hoped it would be. Still, he was managing, running along with a dying girl in his arms. 

He slipped out of the door and pressed himself against the wall, attempting to get his bearings in the pitch darkness of the night. The rain slammed into him, combined with a powerful, nasty wind, which cut into his skin and caused him to curl into himself for a second. When the wind died down, he made his move, darting left and turning the corner towards the massive metal fence. 

Taking a deep breath, Kai sprinted towards the fence, knowing he could climb it but not so sure about Kate. She was still very much awake, but bleeding badly and probably weak and dizzy. His feet pounded into the muddy floor, and he slipped a few times as he neared the glimmering confines of the fence. He smiled as he neared it, pleased with his luck. He'd avoided the beasts. 

The lightning struck again, and lit up the area, and Kai closed his eyes in the bright glare of the fork. It was blinding, and he stopped, for fear he would trip with the hurt girl. And that's when he felt something whip straight into his back and fling him forwards into the path of the metal fence. He slammed into it face first and cried out in pain as he felt his nose snap. He let go of Kate unintentionally, and turned, the lightning gone now, to face a huge, dark blue beast, with oily, scaly skin, barely visible in the darkness. Its neck was short and stubby, but its body was long, and its tail looked powerful and sharp, as it was covered with small silver platelets. Kai coughed for a moment to clear the blood out of his throat before pushing himself to his shaky feet, looking straight at the beast in front of him. 

It lunged forwards, smelling a fresh victim, and Kai leaped upwards, clinging to the wire of the fence with his aching hands. He was then on a level with the creature, and he spun the hoary scalpel in his hands before lobbing it viciously into its left eye. Blood splurged from the popped eye, and Kai winced at the white liquid that spilled from the socket. 

_~ "It's like I'm armed but the gun's not loaded . . ."~_

In his moment of safety, more lightning flashed, and Kai forced himself to keep his eyes open and he scrambled for Kate, who was sprawled on the floor, her blood mixing with the rain. He grabbed her arms and hoisted them around his painful neck, dragging her towards the fence. He felt her grab on and try to secure herself weakly, which was helpful, and then, just before the beast could try and attack again, amidst its wails of anguish and pain, Kai reached up onto the fence with his free arm and began to climb, Kate dangling from his neck. 

_~ "I guess I could find my way out of this . . ."~_

It was difficult, as Kate's weight, slight as it was, really pulled on his neck, and he feared that the stitches would slip out. Still he continued to climb, as quickly as he could with one hand, the rain slamming into his eyes and blinding him as much as the lightning did. He could hear the beast below, roaring in pure seething anger. 

When he felt the fence begin to shake, Kai was about half way up, and he looked back in fear, his whole body shivering with the cold, as the beast began to claw its way up the metal mesh of the wire, its body shimmering with wet droplets of water, trickling down those scales seductively, a fathomless, untouchable black socket glaring right up at them much more so than the real eye had ever done.

_~ "But it's like you've found a way inside . . ."~_

Kai swallowed and did all that he could do. He climbed. Yanking himself up with vicious jerks of his arms, attempting not to panic at the sound and sense of the beast clambering closer and closer, its silver claws blending and merging into the wires. He neared the summit of the fence, his face absolutely soaked with rain, and grabbed the top of the fence with force, hoping to yank himself and Kate over safely and traverse the other side to get a head start on the beast. However, when he slammed his hand into a bundle of barbed wire he retreated, cursing and feeling lucky that he hadn't torn any major blood vessels in his hand. It bled, but not badly. The blood was assimilated by the rainwater and fell through the air, landing straight in the mouth of the beast. 

_~ "And I hate that I suspect you're right."~_

Kai glanced down frantically, wondering how he was supposed to get out of this. And he suddenly longed to hold his Dranzer once again; to simply catch the kisses of the beautiful scarlet phoenix as it soared through a new, free world, and to swim further out with it, and wrap it around him like a blanket, as if joy were something he could touch. 

_~ "This time I'm not gonna follow you down . . ."~_

No. He wouldn't let Boris beat him so easily. He _would_ reunite himself with his phoenix, his other half, his eternal companion. And he would do it soon. No beast was about to tear him down. He and Kate were getting out of this. 

Kai pushed himself up the wire, letting go with his hand and forcing himself to grab the top of the twining cruel ringlets of glinting wire. The lightning flashed, and lit up his vision, and he scanned the wire quickly. He saw his nearest opening, and shimmied over to it quickly as the sky blackened again, ignoring the tearing in his hand. Kate still dangled from his neck, and he grit his teeth as he smelled the beast on the night rain. Upon reaching the opening, he began to slip himself and Kate through it simultaneously, attempting as best as he could to avoid catching any parts of her exposed body on the barbed wire. Thunder roared, and Kai was deaf to everything around him but for the ominous growl of the heavens. 

Unfortunately for him, at that exact same moment, the beast reached upwards with its trunk-like foreleg and grasped Kate's own wiry leg. Kai felt the jolt run through his own body as her hands unclasped from around his neck and he grabbed her tighter, gritting his teeth and cursing silently. 

The beast pulled harder, and Kai attempted to move away desperately, but he could feel the claws of the vile creature scraping along Kate's slender limbs. There'd be no point in escaping with a girl whose legs were so mangled that she could not walk. 

He turned, as another flash of lightning cracked through the putrid wet sky, and glared as bravely as he could into the eye of the beast. And then, in one horrendous instant, the beast yanked down much harder than before, almost pulling Kai from his perch and tearing Kate from his grip. Her naked body fell straight into its crocodile jaws, and Kai couldn't look away as the beast snapped her slim back in its powerful hunger. Her broken body lingered for a moment, hanging out of its mouth and dripping wet, and her glazed open eyes met Kai's own, still alive and still aware, pleading, desperate, accusing, and lamenting. And then she was gone, as quickly as she had come, through this evil creature's own desire as it shook its head from side to side, its gruesome fangs tearing through her broken skin and folding her body into its jaws. 

Kai watched on in horror for another moment as Kate was torn away from him as his freedom had been torn in earlier hours, and then, his eyes still wide and shocked, he clambered through the circular escape in the wire, still determined to escape somehow. 

With a final snap of his own body, Kai swung himself around, and now, admittedly quicker because of the use of both hands, scrambled down the massive wire fence with impressive speed, landing on unsteady feet upon the sodden, slippery, treacherous ground.

_~ "Now comes for it. I'll run, Boris. I'll run you off your feet."~_

He found himself faced with a huge field, of stalks and towering high plants. There was nothing left for him to do than run, and so, with a cry, Kai plunged into the field of corn, not knowing where he was running, but knowing he wasn't about to stop any time soon. 

***************************************************************************************

"See anything, Rei?"

Sara peered around the corner of a building, her eyes almost indistinguishable from her face in the wet atmosphere. Rei stood nearby, perched on an upturned old car. He stood still, rather like a meerkat, and watched all around them. The three of them (Lindsay remained with Sara) were on the very outskirts of the city. They were still close to their oak tree shelter to see it faintly in the silhouette of the night, and they could also see other outlines against the dark horizon – a small set of huts, a few other trees, and a large, unidentifiable square building. Turning back to the city, flaming buildings, charred remnants of any natural life, and the occasional sign of movement could be seen. All was as Rei expected it to be. 

"Well, it looks like there's a ruined fast food restaurant at the end of this street. Wanna try it?"

Lindsay poked her head out. "We can't be slow. They're not far away."

Rei nodded, and Lindsay and Sara joined him next to the car. He jumped down silently, his hair moving in the rain, heavy and sagging across his face, somehow still managing to remain graceful. He turned towards the broken, burned building, only a small one, but a possible food source, and began to move towards it quickly. They'd already tried three other ruins. They just had to keep trying. 

***************************************************************************************

Tyson shifted to a more comfortable position, the rainwater occasionally flitting through the aging leaves of the oak and pattering upon his back. Nearby lay Max, and Ozuma and Lee sat up against the tree trunk.

"So, Ozuma, do you know what happened to the rest of the Saint Shields?" Tyson said as he thrust his chin into his cupped hands. Ozuma shook his head. 

"I have no idea. I don't think they'll be . . . alive, though. There aren't many people left. It's kind of weird how a lot of the people left are actually Beybladers."

"S'cause we're in good physical condition," grinned Tyson. Lee shook his head. "That didn't stop some of us being broken down. No matter how bright a candle burns, it's still majorly simple to snuff it out. That's what life is doing at the moment. It's just sheer coincidence we're still left together."

"Coincidence?" repeated Max, sitting up, his blond hair falling into his eyes, which shimmered darkly in the blackness. "No, I don't think so."

"So what _do you think_, Max?" asked Ozuma, not moving his face but shifting his gaze upon the young blond. Max shrugged. 

"I . . . dunno. But we're here for a reason, I know that. We've all got a purpose for being here. We've all got a job to do."

Lee shrugged. "Fair enough. So, Max, why am I still alive? I could have easily been killed a few days earlier. Why am I still here? What's my job?"

Max's eyes fell. He couldn't explain how he felt. He had never been a very strongly religious person, but right now he felt that he could not avoid thinking that someone had kept him alive for a reason. Maybe it was just a passing phase – he didn't know or understand. But there was this strong feeling of longing inside him, simply a longing to complete whatever task he was required to complete. 

The lightning crashed a little further out towards the field, and Max winced. When was this storm going to stop?

***************************************************************************************

The heavy thud of angry footsteps followed Kai as he ran, almost as rapid as the frenzied beatings of his own heart. Crunching in the sopping damp soil behind him, never slacking, pace increasing as his own slowly began to die down. Stalks of grain lay ahead, a perilous maze of lofty silhouettes, contoured against the black night sky. No stars glinted overhead; the expanse of night above was empty, devoid of activity or life. Perhaps the sight of a glittering star would have reassured him. Perhaps he would not have felt so very alone.

Vision swung bumpily from left to right as he constantly turned his head, searching desperately for assistance, an escape route, a way out. It shuddered and blurred with each weary step he took, shaking and vibrating wildly. He did not dare look around, though he knew what followed. Mad fear drove him on, the light and hope of escape not quite burned out in the darkness of his mind. Mechanically, his feet carried him forward, a slip or blunder occasionally hindering his flight. The noise behind him was enough to keep him alive, enough yet to keep him running. Heavy panting and primitive grunting spliced the otherwise still night air from about three meters behind. The sound of those animal feet tearing through the soil struck new life into his dying soul, and he raced on, the running wind and the teeming rain chapping his face. 

He floundered forward through the field blindly, the wet grass slithering and squeaking under his bare, aching feet. He could hear his own breath, ripping out before him like the tattered rags of an old ghost, materializing just as he ran straight through it and broke it into a million pieces. He had no time to think, no time to plot or systematize a stratagem – he was running in sightless terror. 

Running for his life. 

_~ "I'm gonna outrun you, Boris . . ."~_

As his strength began to fail, as his lungs began to trouble him with each desperate struggle for breath, as his sights finally began to falter, the terrifying noises that followed ceased as suddenly as they had begun. The thud of the creature's footsteps was gone, the growling, the grunting, had departed. The night was at peace besides the shreds of breath he panted into the air. Warily, he stopped and he slowly turned around. To his left, though he could not make it out clearly, was a patch of large, flowering plants, and to his right was a stretch of soil. He was surprised at how much he observed in such a situation. Guardedly, he glanced around, still incredibly wary, still vigilant. His heart rate, though still breakneck, was progressively slowing down. He allowed himself to take in deeper breaths, and, after a final check that everything was clear, leaned over, fastened his hands onto his knees and supported himself, tearing in each breath hungrily, now and then feeling one jar in his tormented throat as he heaved it in. His head began to clear, and, as he felt a little of his strength returning, he stood up shakily and looked about in an attempt to determine where he was. He turned around.

In the calm hush of the night, if he closed his weary eyes, Kai could smell a road. He wasn't far from a highway. The smell of tarmac was unfamiliar and so easy to pick up in the storm. It was a mammoth reprieve to smell civilization again. Gingerly, the corners of his lips began to pull into a reassured smile despite the many cuts and sores on his smooth skin. If he could reach the highway, maybe he could figure out where he was. He already held a faint hope. Something in the air told him that he might be somewhere helpful to him. But he didn't want to raise his own hopes, so he would wait for the highway. He had a feeling something _positive might lie on the other side._

Once more, he knew he had to run.

He sprung towards the road fragrance, breathing it in and distinguishing it from the smell of plants all around him. Suddenly, as though that eerie echo of thunder that boomed through the sky, he could hear his aggressor trailing him again, but more slowly now. Gathering all his strength, he forced himself to move forwards as quickly as his reeling body would allow it.

He came to a raised piece of ground, and, shaking his floppy hair out of his eyes in an effort to clear his giddy vision, he looked over towards the highway in what little spare time he had before his enemy gained too much and he was caught. The highway was not far – visible against the shadowy canvas that was the sky. His spirits rose faintly by the re-emergence of society into his life, and he guessed that he would have to cover around thirty meters through a field of grain and lofty stalks before he made it to the wayside. Doubts filled his head, rose over his fear, but he thrust them away, relying on his stifling panic to propel him forward. It was his driving force, his acceleration, his stimulus and his energy source. Where else could he draw from now?

He started from his harried thoughts when disturbed by a louder sound behind him. His assailant had caught up and was no more than two meters away. He looked back towards the highway, its not-too-distant scent his only hope for now. He mustered his remaining might together and took a breath.

With a frenzied cry, Kai crashed forward into the stalks and ran for his life. 

***************************************************************************************

"What a find, Rei!"

Lindsay emerged from underneath a counter with a large cellophane bag, filled with small round bread buns. On the opposite side of the room, Sara held up a bag full of uncooked burger meat, smiling and licking her lips. 

"Not in this weather, but when the rain stops, we can make a fire and make burgers!" 

Rei laughed, his own stomach growling. But then presence of mind told him that they had to get back now, for fear of the beasts, or any other threat that might come their way. 

The three of them slipped out of the building and into the street, making their way stealthily across the outskirt of the city until they reached the edge of it, quickly crossing a small road that led into a bunch of fields. They would have to go downhill in a moment, and from his higher position, Rei could see all around. Their field was not the only one he could see in the gloomy night sky. To its left was another field, similar in size but filled with bare grass. To its right, a field that looked like it might contain some sort of grain, but he couldn't tell because he was pretty far away, and it was dark. 

The rain suddenly lashed into their faces hard and quick, forcing them all to close their eyes and shut it out. The wind chapped their skin and they all winced, and suddenly, as their eyes shut out the sights around them, their world was quickly filled with smells, all sorts of different ones. To Lindsay, the smell of wet grass was very particular. For Sara, she could smell the scent of the city flowing from behind them. And Rei? 

Rei could smell a highway. He knew where it lay, too. Slightly to the right of the field.

"Let's go, guys," he said quietly after the mini onslaught of rain died off a tad. They quickly traversed the steep hill, and Rei found that for the first time since the battle at the Dojo, he felt a little more alive. Like there was something worth carrying on for. In the freedom of his own rule, and the rebellion of straying away from Tala's dictation, he could move for himself again. And he kind of liked taking part in little team raids like this. 

With the bag of buns, Lindsay reached the bottom of the hill first; her glasses polka-dotted with water drops and her hair twice as curly as normal, a beautiful dark brown in the night air. Water ran off her pointed nose and she smiled up at the others, as their eyes had adjusted and she knew they could see her smile. She felt like smiling. It was great to follow her own route again. And she felt more useful when she helped the team out like this. Made her feel more like part of the team. As one of the only members of the group who wasn't formerly a Beyblader, she sometimes felt left out. Now, she felt like she fitted perfectly. She didn't realise that people with big hearts fitted everywhere. But she was young, and that lesson would come, as she grew older. 

Sara smiled back at Lindsay, despite the rain having rinsed off all of her mascara. She hadn't really thought of anything deep during their little expedition. Her mind kept playing over Tala's slaps earlier. She didn't think he realised how much he'd hurt her – not just physically, although it had smarted quite a lot. She'd always thought that Tala had more respect for her than to treat her like some sort of punishment worthy pet. She didn't want to hate him, but how could she refuse when he acted that way? That didn't matter now, though. What was important was getting what was right for the team, back for the team. 

The three gathered at the bottom of the hill and began the short journey to the oak tree. Rei kept a careful watch, though the girls were less vigilant, for any sign of creatures or humans who could be dangerous. It was not surprising, then, that it was he who cried out:

"What the heck is that?"

Sara glanced around, confused, as did Lindsay, who couldn't see too well anyway. Suddenly they both saw it. A shadowed figure stumbled into the field from the right, delayed by a dragging gait, and was closely followed by something entirely more sinister, more monstrous. The smaller figure moved forwards a little way more, on the opposite side of the field to the oak tree, before collapsing to its knees, at the mercy of the larger creature. 

Rei stood stock still, merely staring forwards, and Lindsay noticed that tiger look that had appeared in his eyes earlier. He didn't know what to think. He blinked, a thousand thoughts running across his mind at once. He knew he had to decide what he was going to do quickly. But he didn't want to risk anybody's life in folly. Was that who he thought and hoped it might be? Or was it not? Rei wasn't sure whether he was willing to gamble.

_~ "Please come closer . . ."~_

Rei's eyes widened, as a song lyric from a band he used to listen to suddenly blossomed in his mind. It continued as he watched the creature approach the smaller figure tauntingly slowly. 

_~ "Please see I'm walking into the eye of the storm . . ."~_

With a crack in the dark sky, piercing light, the field was lit up, and Rei's amber eyes focused on the figure. With a steady thud of the heart, Rei leaped forward, instantly moved upon his convictions, and Sara and Lindsay, guessing the truth, bounded after him, their feet sure in the muddy ground. Sara aimed her bow and arrows quickly as she ran, targeting the larger creature with accuracy in the strangely drawn out flash of lightning. Just as the light faded from the thunderous cracks, Sara let rip with three arrows, and, as the three of them got closer to their destination, Rei withdrew a small dagger from his person and raised it into the air. 

Rain flew about them wildly, as if excited by this sudden show of passion from the three teens, and lightning punctured the blanket of sky once more in frenzy as the wind licked their faces and stole their battle cries, spreading them further than expected. When they reached the creature, it was already reeling from Sara's highly accurate onslaught. Rei pounced on it, stabbing the dagger into the centre of its forehead, watching the blood trickle down in the darkness. It swayed around for a moment, as if caught in the ravaging wind, before stumbling to its knees and slamming lifelessly into the mud. 

There was a silence, not out of reverence, but some inexplicable silence as the creature hit the floor. The rain continued to pour, but the lightning ceased, and the wind died down just for a second. Rei looked at Sara and Lindsay, before looking down to the shivering figure on the floor, the smaller figure, the one that had concerned Rei from the start. 

Rei smiled warmly, his eyes radiating heat through the dull chill of the night. The wind picked up once more, and, in silence, the three teammates surrounded the lad on the floor, Lindsay kneeling down besides him gently. Sara began to check him for wounds all over, whilst Rei simply watched for a moment, quietly enjoying that wonderful sense of being proved right by events, before reaching into his trouser pocket. He pulled out a dark blue blade, with a glimmering red phoenix carved into the centre that lit up savagely in the darkness around them. As Sara examined his wounded hands, and Lindsay offered a few reassuring words, Rei knelt down in front of the semi conscious boy, who was still managing to stay on his knees, and held out his hand. 

"I think you dropped this, Kai." 

Kai took the blade with an exhausted, colourless smile. His fingers closed around it, smearing blood all over it in an accidentally protective manner, and he spoke faintly. 

"I . . . outran him . . ."

The thunder rolled in the distance, moving away now, and as the wind blew about them, Kai closed his eyes in relief, and Lindsay caught him gingerly. 

"What did he mean?" she said quietly, moving to shelter the weakened boy from the heavy rain. "He outran _who_?"

Rei shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know. All I know is that we've got our Captain back."

***************************************************************************************

Sherby: I'm not even bothering with a message like usual. I'm too tired. I had a prayer night last night at my local youth group at church and we weren't allowed to sleep! So I've had no sleep in forty odd hours now. Me need bed. You review. Me happy. You safe. Yam-yam-Shmam. 

Kai: She means goodnight, and thanks for reading. Please leave a review – it'll wake her up! She says the lyrics used throughout the chapter were from Blindside's new album "About a Burning Fire" which you should all go and buy – I'm not advertising – but it's amazing so go buy it right now . . . Oh, it's *checks watch* 23:42 on Sunday night. She started it Saturday. And she apologises for the length of the chapter, and says something along the lines of---

Sherby: If you don't like the length I'll crusssshhhh ya like a worrem!

Kai: She'll crush you like a worm.

Sherby: I said tha---*sleeps* 

Kai: See ya later guys!

Sherby: God bless. 

Kai: I thought you were sleeping.

Sherby: Everyone needs blessings. 

Kai: Yeesh, just go to sleep! Fool! *Hits Jenny with big computer bashing hammer that Emerald Skies gave her long, long ago. Jenny sleeps. The end. It's a mini adventure.*


End file.
